Days after the NCP and the BJP rubbished his claim, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut today said he should not have made public his "private discussion" with Sharad Pawar in which the NCP supremo had purportedly told him that the prime minister had offered a cabinet berth to his daughter Supriya Sule.
Raut said there could have been some "misunderstanding" and he should not have written about the "private discussion" he had with Pawar in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
"I published that discussion (between me and Pawar) in my article (in Saamana). Maybe I should not have published it. It was a private discussion," Raut said.
"In Indian politics, nobody is anyone's enemy. We are ideological enemies. We can extend invitations. If such an invitation has been extended (by Modi to Sule), it does not mean that some political 'khichdi' is cooking," he said.
Raut said he feels that Pawar desired the "discussion" should not have been published as it had a reference to the prime minister.
"After all, there is a reference of the prime minister in this (discussion)," Raut told a Marathi news channel.
"Maybe he (Pawar) did not like the prime minister's reference appearing in the article. After all, it may be a private discussion between them (Pawar and Modi). These are not public discussions," the Sena MP, who is executive editor of 'Saamana', said.
"Such discussions may be of a humorous or family nature. He (Pawar) may have spoken to me in that way. Maybe there was a 'gaflat' (misunderstanding) somewhere," Raut said.
In a signed article in 'Saamana' on Sunday, Raut recalled that during a meeting with Pawar, he had asked about media reports that Pawar would be joining the Modi Cabinet.
"Pawar told me there is no truth to media reports. He described such reports as height of stupidity," Raut wrote.
Raut, however, claimed that Pawar once told him that prime minister wanted Supriya Sule in his cabinet and Sule who was present at that meeting turned down the offer saying she would be the last person to join the BJP.
Pawar has not responded to Raut's article but Sule, who is the Lok Sabha member from Baramati, denied meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with her father ahead of the recent Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)