By Quaid Najmi

Pune, Apr 8 (IANS): Poor Ajit Pawar... Whether he goes to the loo or to the medico, sceptics jump up to predict the Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)'s "waterloo".

It happened once again when the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s Leader of Opposition suddenly went incommunicado since Friday evening and allegedly "departed" for an undisclosed destination minus his security detail.

By late night, there was unbridled speculation that the MVA would collapse, others claimed a dozen other NCP MLAs had also "switched off their phones", that the NCP would extend support to the current dispensation in the state, among others.

This naturally raised a scare of the possibility of another political coup - akin to the covert dawn swearing-in ceremony of November 2019 - when Ajit Pawar suddenly became the Deputy CM and Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis became the Chief Minister in the two-men regime that crashed after just 80-hours.

A senior party leader dismissively told IANS late on Friday that "Ajit Pawar is indisposed" without giving specific details, and even pooh-poohed the media's rampant speculation over his "temporary absence from the media glare".

This morning, a relaxed, cheerful and unperturbed Ajit Pawar "re-emerged" into the limelight, for the inauguration of a prominent jewellery showroom in Pune, and later gave an earful of "sharp bytes" to the battery of media-persons eagerly waiting out there.

"For the past few days, I had continuous tours across Maharashtra and could not get sufficient rest. Due to the heat and lack of sleep, I suffered from hyper-acidity and my health condition had deteriorated. Hence, I took the doctor's advice and medicines and had gone to take rest at my relative's home in Pune," said Pawar, patiently placating the media.

He expressed clear displeasure that he was being "unnecessarily defamed" without any reason with baseless news circulating that he had gone "not reachable", among others, and pointed out that he was in touch with his uncle (NCP President Sharad Pawar) and others too.

"We are public figures and the media has a right to report about us... But why resort to wrong news without any confirmation... You may write anything after proper verification," said a peeved Pawar.

Last night's media kite-flying gained further credence in view of NCP supremo Pawar Sr.'s utterances on the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into Adani Group issue vis-A-vis the Hindenburg Research report.

While Pawar has batted for a Supreme Court appointed panel, the Congress state President Nana Patole reiterated its demand for a JPC probe.

Last month, Ajit Pawar had mischievously winked at someone in the crowd when ex-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was present - and again the MVA allegedly tottered on the brink.

Earlier in September 2022, Ajit Pawar had been the subject of similar barbs when he abruptly left midway during a NCP meeting, setting tongues wagging at jet-speed.

Later, the annoyed Pawar Jr. himself cleared the air and informed the media how he had merely gone to the washroom, and assured there was no danger to the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena (UBT) MVA.