Amid Pawar politics and defection rumours, NCP MP Amol Kolhe promotes his play

Promoting his play Shiv Putra Sambhaji in Pimpri Chinchwad, Shirur MP Amol Kolhe refused to confirm or deny that he was set to join the BJP.

Kolhe, the Shirur MP known for essaying the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in TV serials, refused to confirm or deny that he was likely to join BJP.

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Amid Pawar politics and defection rumours, NCP MP Amol Kolhe promotes his play

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The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) may have plunged into turmoil following Sharad Pawar’s resignation as party president but it hasn’t stopped party MP Amol Kolhe from promoting his play Shiv Putra Sambhaji even as he chose to keep mum about a possible defection to the BJP.

“I will speak in detail about politics on May 17,” Kolhe told reporters on Thursday in Pimpri Chinchwad, where he announced the staging of the play at H A Ground from May 11 to May 16.

Kolhe, the Shirur MP known for essaying the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in TV serials, refused to confirm or deny that he was likely to join BJP.

Asked about his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah last year in Delhi, Kolhe said, “I have not held any meeting with any BJP leader. If you hold a discussion with your rival party, it does not mean that one is joining that party. In politics, holding discussions is necessary.”

Kolhe said he was away from all that was happening at NCP headquarters in Mumbai because he was busy promoting his play. “Though I am busy staging my play, I have been in touch with my party leaders. After the resignation of our party chief, I have spoken to our top leaders and tried to make sense of the unfolding events,” he said.

Days after Sharad Pawar announced he was stepping down as NCP president, an 18-member party committee on Friday unanimously rejected his resignation.

“I came to know about our party chief’s resignation as president from the media. I don’t want to comment much about it. But in the last six years, Maharashtra politics has revolved around senior leader Sharad Pawar and Bal Thackeray. I am sure he will take the decision regarding the party’s presidency after deep thought. Entire Maharashtra knows it,” Kolhe said.

Kolhe also denied there was a rift in the NCP. “Looking at the committee that has been set up to pick a president, I do not think there are two groups in the party as is being speculated,” he said.

Kolhe, who was the party’s star campaigner in the 2019 elections, was kept out of the party’s list of star campaigners from the recent Gujarat elections. Last year, amidst speculation about the possibility of his joining the BJP, Kolhe had told The Indian Express, “I am not an astrologer to predict the future.”