'Missing' MLA hints return to NCP, BJP MP meets Sharad Pawar
Mumbai: The NCP on Sunday said one of its its 'missing' MLAs Anil Patil has expressed faith in the leadership of Sharad Pawar, indicating his return to the party fold.
In another significant development, BJP MP Sanjay Kakade and NCP leaders Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Baban Shinde, who is considered close to Ajit Pawar, met Sharad Pawar at his residence here in the morning.
After the meeting, which lasted for 15 minutes, Kakade said he came to meet Pawar for his "personal work". Congress state chief and senior party leader Ashok Chavan also met Sharad Pawar.
Later, Chavan told reporters that the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena will form government as they "have the numbers".
"All the missing NCP MLAs will return to the party fold soon. The Congress MLAs are all together," he said.
After the BJP made a comeback to power in Maharashtra on Saturday with the help of NCP leader Ajit Pawar and his party's unspecified number of MLAs, some legislators of the Sharad Pawar-led party, including Anil Patil and Daulat Daroda, went 'missing'.
Patil was among the dozen odd MLAs who attended the swearing in of Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister along with NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy on Saturday morning.
NCP spokesman Nawab Malik took to Twitter on Sunday and tagged Anil Patil's tweet which said the latter continues to be part of the NCP and expressed faith in the leadership of Sharad Pawar.
In the tweet, Patil said he went tothe Raj Bhawan since Ajit Pawar was the legislature party leader. "I wasn't aware about what was going to happen at the Raj Bhawan. I am with Sharad Pawar," Patil said in the tweet.
Malik said this was an indication of Patil's return to the party fold.
Meanwhile, the family of Shahpur MLA Daulat Daroda, who went 'missing' on Saturday after reaching the Raj Bhawan in south Mumbai where Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath, filed a missing person complaint with police.
Talking to PTI , Malik said till Sunday morning, five MLAs - Daulat Daroda, Nitin Pawar (Kalwan), Narhari Zhirwal (Dindori), Babasaheb Patil (Ahmedpur), Anil Patil (Amalner) - were reported missing.
"Of these, Anil Patil has indicated he is with the party led by Sharad Pawar. Ahmedpur MLA Babasaheb Patil is also expected to return. The rest will follow," he said.
According to sources, more than 45 NCP legislators, including Sharad Pawar's grand nephew Rohit Pawar, have been shifted to a suburban resort to prevent 'poaching'.
In a stunning turn of events, Fadnavis on Saturday returned as chief minister propped up by Ajit Pawar, who was made his deputy, just hours after the new alliance of Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress reached a consensus that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be their chief ministerial candidate.
Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were sworn in by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at a hush hush ceremony here, leading to lifting of the President's rule in the state.
Ajit Pawar's volte face created fissures in the NCP, whose chief Sharad Pawar distanced himself from his nephew's dramatic action, saying the decision to back Fadnavis was his personal choice and not that of the party.
On Saturday evening, the NCP removed Ajit Pawar as the party's legislature unit head, saying his move was not in line with the party's policies.
The BJP and the Sena, which fought the last month's Assembly polls in an alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively.
The Sena, however, broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister's post. The Congress and the NCP, both pre-poll allies, won 44 and 54 seats respectively.
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Trump returns from China; terms meeting with Xi as 'G-2'
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump returned from a visit to China, describing his discussions with President Xi Jinping as a meeting of leaders of "two great countries".
Trump landed at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on the outskirts of the US capital on Friday evening, claiming to have struck important trade deals, including one for China's purchase of 200 aircraft from Boeing, with a promise for another 750, as well as agreements benefiting the American agriculture sector.
The US President reached here after a brief refuelling stop at Anchorage in Alaska.
“It’s the two great countries. I call it the G-2. This is the G-2. I think it’ll go down as a very important moment in history,” Trump told Fox News in an interview after meeting Xi on Thursday.
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s remarks put China on an equal footing with the US, exactly what Xi had aimed to achieve with the visit.
“Over two days of meetings here, the carefully choreographed pageantry and the reciprocal gestures of friendship and respect between the world’s two most powerful men displayed a geopolitical dynamic that the Chinese have long craved and Americans had resisted," the Post said.
Trump told Fox News that the relationship with Xi was important and suggested that China may not resort to any aggressive moves over Taiwan, at least till he is in office.
“It’s not a takeover. They just don’t want to see this place — we’ll call it a place because nobody knows how to define it — but they don’t want to see it go independent,” Trump said.
“I don’t think they’ll do anything when I’m here. When I’m not here. I think they might, to be honest with you,” Trump said.
"I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down," he said.
"We're not looking to have wars, and if you kept it the way it is, I think China's going to be OK with that," he added.
The US President said he had invited Xi for a visit to Washington in September.
“Xi has done something Chinese leaders have been working toward for decades — bringing an American president to Beijing as an undisputed peer,” said Julian Gewirtz, who served as China director on the National Security Council under President Joe Biden.
“Xi used the opulent optics of the visit to make clear to the world that China and the United States are the two dominant, equally matched superpowers. There is no going back.”
Trump’s friendly statements toward Xi and the Chinese people were being amplified in China’s state-controlled media, sending the message that “we’re getting along better with the Americans,” John Delury, a senior Fellow at the Asia Society, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
It was understandable that Trump wanted to be polite to Xi, but that the American president’s gushing approach “weakens Trump and the US”, R. Nicholas Burns, the ambassador to China during the Biden administration, was quoted as saying in The New York Times.
“Xi did not hesitate to warn Trump over Taiwan. Trump should not hesitate to be frank about our concerns, too,” he said.
Trump and Xi are expected to meet at least three times this year.
The US President has invited Xi to the White House in September.
Trump may travel to Shenzhen in China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in November. And Xi could come to the G-20 summit in December in Miami.
“This is a summit again that was heavier on symbolism than it was on substance — focus on managing problems, not on solving the problems that exist between the US and China,” said Rush Doshi, former National Security Council deputy senior director for China and Taiwan in the Biden administration.
“The way that both leaders talked about the future indicates that this is going to be part of a process that will play out this year,” said Kurt Campbell, former deputy secretary of State in the Biden administration.
