Day After Spat on NIA Taking over Elgar Parishad Case, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray Share Stage

Jalgaon: NCP president Sharad Pawar shared a stage with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a day after criticising him for allowing the transfer of the Elgar Parishad case probe to the National Investigation Agency.

Pawar and Thackeray came together on Saturday for a function in Jalgaon to give out agricultural awards named after Appasaheb Pawar, the NCP chief's elder brother.

On Friday, Pawar had told reporters in Kolhapur that it was not right on part of the Centre to hand over the Elgar Parishad case probe to the NIA from Pune police. In a swipe at the state government, of which the NCP is a part, Pawar had said, "It was not right for the Centre to hand over the investigation into the case to the NIA. But it was even more wrong for the state government to support the transfer of the case."

At Saturday's function, however, all appeared well between the two politicians with Pawar asking that the Maharashtra CM be felicitated first while Thackeray asked that the former Union agriculture minister be honoured before him. The organisers honoured Pawar and Thackeray jointly.

Speaking on the occasion, Thackeray said the farmer is the binding force of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. "Farmers have brought us together. Our not sitting together does not mean there is any problem in the Maha Vikas Aghadi," Thackeray assured the gathering.

"Farmers need not worry now. This is their government. I am aware that farmers want water, electricity and good price for their produce. Loan waiver is the first aid to take them out of their problems permanently," the CM added.

Addressing the function, Pawar said, "Today in the world, India has a standing in the field of agriculture. We have attained sufficiency in agriculture despite constraints like burgeoning population. For this, we must give credit to our farmers and scientists."

He said farmers need to look for new technologies, adopt and apply them in the field, adding that "water remains an important issue and the state and Centre need to work together".

The agriculture award, set up Jain Irrigation, was given to Dattatraya Chavan, a farmer from Nandapur in Jalna district.