MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday said NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who shared stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Tilak National Award ceremony in Pune, could have stayed away from the event "to clear doubts about him.
The editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' claimed that Modi accused the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of corruption and then engineered a split in the party and muddied the politics in Maharashtra.
"Still, Sharad Pawar will welcome Modi and this has not gone down well with some people. This was a good opportunity for Pawar to turn his back on the programme and clear the doubts about him among people," the Marathi daily said.
Later in the day, former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan said such incidents lead to confusion and Pawar should make his position clear.
"I don't think participating in such events is wrong. (But) All important opposition parties have come under the banner of INDIA alliance. Such incidents create an atmosphere of confusion," the Congress leader said.
"If a senior leader like Pawar makes his position clear then it will be much better," Chavan said.
PM Modi was on a visit to Pune on Tuesday to launch various development projects and also receive the Lokmanya Tilak National Award, instituted by the Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983 to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak.
Notably, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar last month led a split in the NCP and joined the Shinde government along with eight other party MLAs.
The Saamana editorial said if Sharad Pawar would have stayed away from the event to protest against the engineering of the split in the NCP, his leadership and courage would have been appreciated.
The country is fighting against dictatorship and the INDIA alliance comprising 26 opposition parties has been formed for the purpose, it said.
Sharad Pawar is the "leading general" of the alliance, it claimed.
There are different expectations of people from a senior leader like Sharad Pawar, the Marathi publication said.
"PM Modi is not ready to speak on the violence in Manipur. It is not in national interest for the country's leader to not speak on the issue," the editorial said.
There are protests against the prime minister in Pune and NCP activists were taking part in it, it noted.
It was a weird situation because the party's leaders were with Modi on the stage and party workers were protesting against him with black flags, the Saamana editorial added.
