Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray, the chief of the Shiv Sena, today said Congress ally
Sharad Pawar wanted to cross over to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or NDA, but he blocked it. Mr Pawar has called it the "joke of the year".
"Pawar was open to discussing both pre-poll and post-poll alliance with the NDA. But not just me, BJP's Gopinath Munde and other Maharashtra leaders strongly opposed it," Mr Thackeray told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
(Watch interview here)Within hours, an emphatic denial came from Mr Pawar, who has been with the Congress-led coalition for 15 years. Tearing into Mr Thackeray for what he called "immature, irresponsible" statements, he said, "I feel sorry for his level of thinking. This is why the Shiv Sena is going down and leaders are deserting Uddhav. I don't take him seriously, nobody does," he said.
The Sena leader had also said in an interview in his party's mouthpiece
Saamna on Sunday, that his party would fight any move to bring Mr Pawar to the NDA after the polls.
(Full coverage: India Votes 2014)
Opinion polls predict that the BJP will win the election but fall short of a majority, which could make it dependent on allies for power at the Centre.
(The Final Word: India's Biggest Opinion Poll)Mr Pawar, 73, enjoys a good rapport with leaders across parties and was known to be close to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. He was also seen to be warming up to the BJP when he said in February that there was no need for a debate on
Narendra Modi's alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots when the courts had ruled on it. He reportedly even met Mr Modi, but dismissed it as routine.
Since then, however, the veteran Maharashtra politician has gone back to criticising Mr Modi, even describing him as a person "who needs hospital treatment for talking rubbish," on Sunday.
"He was my father's friend, not mine," Uddhav Thackeray remarked today. Mr Pawar retorted, "I knew Balasaheb intimately. He was mature."