Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule

a berth in the Union Cabinet

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena stirred a hornet’s nest on Sunday with its mouthpiece Saamna claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered NCP chief, an MP In a signed article in Saamna on Sunday, Shiv Sena strategist Sanjay Raut referred to his recent meeting with Pawar. When the Sena MP sought to know if the NCP was set to join the BJP-led NDA, Pawar blamed the media for spreading canards about his party. Pawar, according to Raut, then recalled his meeting with Modi. “The PM told me that he wanted Supriya in the Union Cabinet ,” Raut quoted the Maratha strongman as saying. According to Raut, Pawar added that Supriya— who was also present at the meeting with the PM—told Modi that she would be the last person to go with the BJP Raut maintained that whatever Pawar might say, the state leaders of the NCP are in contact with the BJP. Pawar and Sule had no comments to offer on the Saamna piece.The Sena’s claim, on the same day that finance minister Arun Jaitley and CM Devendra Fadnavis attended a public function in Pune with Pawar, has heightened speculation in state political circles that the BJP is going all out to woo the NCP into its fold.On Sunday, Jaitley praised Pawar saying he had never heard a negative statement coming from him. “I have seen him for many years. When it comes to thinking of the country’s interest, Pawar has always gone beyond politics,” he said.He has done commendable work in field of agriculture”, Jaitley said.Sources in the state BJP said that both Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah are upset over Sena’s non-stop diatribe against the BJP and the Modi-Fadnavis regimes.Sena’s estranged relationship with its ally after the latter refused to acknowledge Matoshri’s claim to be the saffron suzerain in the state was followed by speculation that BJP might rope in Pawar to make up for the loss of numbers should Sena actually follow through on its threat to break away.BJP’s successes, starting with assembly polls and continuing through municipal polls, have added to Sena’s angst, which is often articulated in the columns of Saamna under Raut’s byline.“Our stand is clear. However, such reports are carried only to sow confusion,” Pawar told Raut, according to the latter’s Sunday piece. However, Raut wrote that the Sena need not lose sleep if the CM wants NCP functionaries to join his cabinet in the state.Joining the Fadnavis regime would be “the last straw on the camel’s back” for the NCP which has 41 MLAs in the state assembly. Also, the BJP will stand exposed if the NCP joins the Fadnavis government, noted Raut.Taking a dig at Modi and Shah for poaching on opposition parties, Raut said, “By inducting all and sundry into the party fold, the BJP is fast emerging as the modern-day avatar of the Congress party.”