Pune (Maharashtra), Aug 12 (IANS): Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar on Monday expressed surprise over Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s ire towards him and refuted the latter’s allegations.

Two days ago (August 10), Raj Thackeray had launched a broadside against Sharad Pawar alleging he was fuelling casteist politics and along with former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, was attempting to foment riots in the state ahead of the Assembly elections in October.

Simultaneously, the MNS chief had avoided mentioning the ruling MahaYuti alliance leaders, but patted Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar for never speaking about caste politics and having a clean political image on this front.

“I don’t understand why he (Raj Thackeray) uttered my name two-three times that day… I have no such record and I would never go down such a route… I never did it and don’t intend to in future. He further claimed that I was trying to obstruct his vehicle. But, when I travel to several places even my car was blocked by some persons, so shall I be blamed for it now,” said a miffed Pawar Sr.

Last week, in a strong attack on the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Raj Thackeray had also referred to Sharad Pawar’s warning that a ‘Manipur-like’ situation could develop in the state and all must be on guard, even as it attracted sharp reactions from the political parties.

“I had said that the situation in Manipur is very different from Maharashtra, “and I was speaking about bringing matters under control, so how can my speaking about it be said as ‘contributing’ to the problems”, Sharad Pawar countered Raj Thackeray.

The NCP(SP) chief was responding to queries posed by media persons in Pune on a wide variety of topics, including the MNS leader’s statements last weekend, as both the leaders are facing the ire of the Maratha community for their certain comments in the past few days.