Sharad Pawar meets PM Modi, gifts pomegranates; creates buzz

New Delhi: NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, creating a lot of buzz as the meeting came weeks after the BJP-led Mahayuti trounced the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra.

Pawar met the prime minister in his office in Parliament House along with two farmers from Phaltan in western Maharashtra and presented him with a box of pomegranates from their farm.

Pawar had recently written to the PM, inviting him to inaugurate the 98th Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, scheduled to be held at Talkatora Stadium in the national capital in February. "I did not broach the topic of Sahitya Sammelan," Pawar said after the meeting with the prime minister.


In a post on X, the Prime Minister's Office said Sharad Pawar, along with a group of farmers, met Modi on Wednesday.

It also posted pictures of the NCP-SP chief presenting pomegranates to Modi.

According to highly-placed sources, a high-profile BJP leader visited Pawar's residence in the national capital last week on his birthday.

The same day Pawar's estranged nephew and BJP ally Ajit Pawar met his uncle along with his wife Sunetra Pawar, the Rajya Sabha MP.

Ajit is Maharashtra's deputy chief minister and leads NCP that contested elections in alliance with BJP in the recently-held assembly polls in Maharashtra.

In the Maharashtra assembly elections last month, MVA faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP-led Mahayuti. Mahayuti won 235 seats, while MVA was restricted to 46 in the 288-member House.