New Delhi: A day after meeting Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. If reports are to be believed, the meeting between Pawar and PM Modi lasted for nearly 50 minutes. “Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sharad Pawar met PM Narendra Modi,” the Prime Minister’s Office wrote on Twitter and shared a photo of the meeting.

What happened in the meeting? 

Taking to twitter, the NCP chief said that he held discussions on various issues of national interest. “Met honourable Prime Minister of our country Shri Narendra Modi. Had a discussion on various issues of national interest”, tweeted Pawar after the meeting, which came amid multiple developments including his presidential candidature and alleged rift within the Maha Vikaas Aghadi (Sena-NCP-Congress) government in Maharashtra.

Rift Within MVA 

Of lately, squabble among alliance partners has come to the fore after Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Chief Nana Patole called Pawar ‘remote control’ of the Thackeray government in Maharashtra.

“Sharad Pawar is the NCP chief. I am the Congress chief, so we want to strengthen our parties respectively. He is the remote control but he has a bigger role in making this MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government. Sharad Pawar gives us guidance and therefore he is a remote control,” Patole had said.

Notably, Pawar is the main architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra and is seen as a lynchpin for any future opposition alliance against the BJP.