00:00So is there more to Supriya Suley's conditional support that she may be offering to the NDA?
00:06Is the Sharad Pawar camp likely the next party to defect to the NDA?
00:11Can the India bloc avoid another setback to its unity?
00:15And does the NDA really have the numbers for their mission delimitation 2.0?
00:19Joining me now is a special guest.
00:22I'm joined by Jayan Patil, NCP Senior MLA
00:26and of course the former Finance Minister of Maharashtra
00:30and the former President of the NCP Maharashtra.
00:32Appreciate you joining us, Mr. Jayan Patil.
00:36Is there any truth to the rumours that last night you met Devendra Fadnavis
00:40and this is part of a gradual rapprochma between the NCP, SP and the BJP?
00:47Is there any truth to it at all, sir?
00:50I don't think there is any substance in this news
00:54because I had gone to see him for one issue which has arised in my own constituency.
01:02So I went and met him and came back.
01:05So all other news which have come,
01:10which immediately after I reached home, I was watching a football match
01:15and that time I started getting these news.
01:17So you're saying there is absolutely no question of the NCP Sharad Pawar
01:24aligning with the NDA either in Maharashtra or in Delhi?
01:29Anything happens in our party is well discussed with the colleagues.
01:33So there is not any type of discussion among MPs or MLAs
01:40or within our party karikattas.
01:43I don't think anything has begun or we have started thinking in this direction.
01:50But is it not true, Mr. Patil, that there are a number of your MLAs.
01:54You have 10 MLAs in Maharashtra.
01:56You have 8 MPs in Delhi.
01:58MLAs and MPs, many of them are keen to join hands with the NDA
02:01because they want development funds, they want constituency funds.
02:05And there is an attraction, there is almost a desire on the part
02:10of these MPs and MLAs to join hands with the NDA.
02:13Isn't it true that there are some MLAs and MPs pushing you all towards that direction?
02:20Whenever we meet together, they always have been complaining
02:25that there are no funds given in those constituencies where NCP MLAs
02:30or Shiv Sena MLAs got elected last time.
02:33So this issue is not today's issue.
02:36It lasts two years.
02:38It is happening.
02:39And even before that, since Eknach Hindi has become Chief Minister in Maharashtra,
02:47since then all of us are facing the same issue.
02:50But what has happened is that is why the MLAs think that we should get some
02:58of the other way funds.
03:00And you may have noticed in Assembly also, I have many times raised this issue
03:09of ruling party not giving funds to the opposition MLAs.
03:14And no doubt, everybody feels that we should get funds.
03:20But for that, they don't want to cross over, switch over to any other party.
03:25Has Sharat Pawar at any stage, you know him very well.
03:28You also met him, we had told yesterday.
03:30Has he at any stage discussed with you the possibility of joining hands with the NDA?
03:36No, he has not discussed anything with me.
03:40Because as I said, we have not discussed this issue at all at any level.
03:48So I don't think what you are saying is going to happen or will happen.
03:53So what happens is in between, I must admit, before when Ajit Pawar was alive, in his last seven, eight
04:03months,
04:05he had come to my residence in Mumbai for about 13, 14 times.
04:11We discussed it.
04:13And he insisted that both the parties should merge.
04:18And we should talk to Mr. Pawar, sir.
04:22So talking to Mr. Pawar was very difficult in those days.
04:26But I could speak, I could talk to him.
04:31And I tried to bring both the leaders together.
04:35But unfortunately, Ajit Dada passed away and we could not do it.
04:40But that was the desire of all the parties from both the sides.
04:45No, you are giving us a very important news point.
04:47You are giving us a very important news point.
04:49You are saying that before Ajit Pawar passed away, tragically, in that air crash in January,
04:53there were several attempts made to merge the two factions of the NCP.
04:58Are those merger talks still on?
05:00Is there still a possibility?
05:01This merging talks were kept confidential when Ajit Pawar was alive because we were about to join hands.
05:13But after his death, there are no talks, merger talks going on, not with anyone.
05:20Okay, so there are no merger talks at the moment.
05:23But then how do we interpret Supriya Sule's statement?
05:26She is saying, NCP-SP may be ready to support the NDA on the delimitation bill in parliament.
05:31It almost seems as if you all are inching closer towards the NDA.
05:36Almost, she seems to give the impression that if certain conditions are met,
05:42you could, you could possibly support the NDA in parliament.
05:46She is our national leader.
05:50She is Karyat Dekshah of our party.
05:53She, along with her other seven MPs,
05:59they may have discussed this issue together.
06:03And about delimitation, she has specific ideas.
06:08And especially about the women's reservation, she is very insistent about it.
06:13So, I think she may have discussed it with party leaders in Delhi.
06:20No, no discussions have taken place on this in Mumbai, on supporting the NDA in parliament.
06:25My, Rajit, my own opinion about delimitation is,
06:30in Maharashtra, we have 288 MLA's.
06:35After delimitation, they are saying it will become 450 MLA's.
06:39In parliament also, the number will go from 543 to 850.
06:46Now, if we start increasing the number of MLAs and MPs all over the country,
06:52the administrative costs, the number of MPs, number of MLAs,
06:57it will become so huge that it will itself,
07:00it itself will become a huge debt burden on the economy, Indian economy.
07:06So, this is my personal opinion.
07:08Supriya Sule has a different opinion, I think.
07:11But we have not discussed with her.
07:14But this is my personal opinion.
07:16You are making, again, important point.
07:18But net-net, you are telling me today,
07:20there is no question as of now,
07:22of the NCP Sharad Pawaar moving from the India Alliance to the NDA.
07:26You are clear about that?
07:28Yeah, so far it is what today I stand.
07:32I don't see anything will happen now immediately.
07:36Okay.
07:37Let me leave it there.
07:38Who knows what tomorrow brings,
07:39particularly in Maharashtra politics.
07:41We never know.
07:4224 hours can be a long time.
07:44But as of today,
07:45Jain Patil, former senior minister in the Maharashtra government,
07:48is saying no question as of now of joining hands with the NDA.
07:53Thank you very much for joining us here on the show today.
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