Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament, weeks after the BJP-led MahaYuti Alliance suffered a landslide defeat to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state assembly elections.
Pawar and two farmers from Phaltan in western Maharashtra presented the prime minister with a box of pomegranates from their farm. The veteran leader had recently written to Modi, inviting him to inaugurate the 98th Marathi Sahitya Sammelan scheduled at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium in February. Pawar, however, clarified that he “I did not broach the topic of Sahitya Sammelan” during their meeting.
The interaction came in the wake of the MVA's poor performance in the Assembly elections, where the Congress-NCP(SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT) alliance won only 46 seats in the 288-member House. In contrast, the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP MahaYuti Alliance claimed a landslide victory with 235 seats.
Observers noted that Pawar's meeting with Modi, and his efforts to draw attention to farmers' issues, show that the NCP-SP leader remains focused on solving major public concerns despite the election being spoiled.
