Mumbai, Nov 23 (IANS): Shortly after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar washed his hands off nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawars move to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and form the government in Maharashtra, Supriya Sule indicated that the family and party have "split".
She put up a social media status saying "Party and Family split", adding that she never felt so "cheated in my life", implying her cousin Ajit Pawar.
"Who do you trust in life... Never felt so cheated in my life... Defended him (Ajit Pawar) loved him... Look what I get in return," read Sule's status.
The ruse came barely hours after her father Sharad Pawar distanced himself to say that the move by Ajit Pawar to form a government with the BJP was "his personal decision and not of the NCP."
"We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted, indicating a vertical split in the NCP, though the complete details are yet to emerge.
Pawar Senior will meet top leaders from the Congress and Shiv Sena and then address a press conference on Saturday afternoon to give further details on how the political landscape changed in the morning.
Meanwhile, NCP state President Jayant Patil said Ajit Pawar had expressed even late on Friday night that "the discussions were dragging on for too long" though a final breakthrough was expected today (on Saturday) after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress unanimously approved Sena President Uddhav Thackeray as the next Chief Minister.