Ajit Pawar said he holds all rights to meet his family.
Weeks after joining the Maharashtra cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar - who met Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar's wife Pratibha Pawar on Saturday - said that he has the right to visit his family.
"I hold all the rights to meet my family. My aunt (Pratibha Pawar) was not keeping well and was hospitalised, so I went to meet her after she was discharged," Ajit Pawar told ANI.
The development came after Pratibha Pawar underwent surgery at the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai on Friday.
This was Ajit Pawar's first visit to Sharad Pawar's residence, Silver Oak, after he rebelled against his uncle and joined the Eknath Shinde government on July 2.
Ajit Pawar has also been entrusted with the finance and planning ministries.
The NCP has 53 MLAs and nine MLCs, of whom nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar have joined the Eknath Shinde government.
In a major cabinet reshuffle in the Maharashtra cabinet on Friday, another minister, Chhagan Bhujbal, has been allotted the food and civil supplies ministry.
However, the grand-nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Rohit Pawar on Saturday said that the party chief believes that BJP broke the Pawar family and the party.
"NCP chief Sharad Pawar believes that BJP broke the family and the party...If BJP is answerable for all, then the main target will be BJP. It (BJP) will always try to create a tussle between Uddhav Thackeray and the Shinde faction. The BJP is trying to create a dispute between the ministers of NCP and those who have joined the Shinde faction to waste time. In all this, BJP - which is the main target - gets sidelined," Rohit Pawar said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)