Pune: NCP’s state deputy chief Udaykumar Aher wrote a letter to the party chief, Sunetra Pawar, claiming that some members within the outfit were trying to malign the image of her elder son, Rajya Sabha member Parth Pawar, through spreading rumours about his maturity.Aher sent the letter to Sunetra on July 13, against the backdrop of growing rift within the NCP’s top brass. Claiming it to be an internal communication within the party, he advocated for Parth’s name for the minister’s post at the Centre. A day after he sent the letter, NCP’s national working president Praful Patel and state chief Sunil Tatkare met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, about which Sunetra was unaware.NCP has not got a ministerial berth at the Centre. Speculations are rife that Patel and Parth are among the contenders from the party in the upcoming cabinet shuffle.NCP downplayed the letter controversy. The party’s spokesperson, Umesh Patil, said, “Aher through his letter expressed the party workers’ sentiments that Parth should get the opportunity in the Union cabinet. These sentiments are quite natural and there is nothing wrong with it. The Prime Minister takes the call on cabinet berths and we hope that NCP will get a ministerial post at the Centre. If the party gets such an opportunity, our party chief Sunetra will take a decision about it.”NCP’s state deputy president Aher gave reasons to support Parth’s name for the ministerial berth at the Centre in his letter to Sunetra. He also wrote that some members from the party were trying to malign Parth’s image by saying that the latter lacked political maturity.Aher told TOI, “Some members from our party are jealous of Parth and therefore, they are trying to spread some rumours about him. If Parth gets a ministerial berth at the Centre at a young age, they will not be able to digest it. Therefore, they are trying to target him.”He mentioned in the letter that the same party members were trying to end Parth’s political career before it started flourishing. “It is an open secret that some members of our party are trying to project that Parth will not be able to do justice to the party and its supporters because he lacks maturity,” Aher wrote.Asked if his letter prompted Patel and Tatkare’s meeting with the chief minister without the knowledge of Sunetra, Aher said, “The letter was a part of the party’s internal communication, but I do not know who leaked it outside. I do not think that there is any relation between my letter and the meeting of Patel and Tatkare with the chief minister.”
