Once the party president's trusted aide and now a renegade, Cooperation Minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Monday said he never meant to criticise Sharad Pawar. In Pune on Sunday, Walse-Patil said the NCP boss had never been given a majority to install his own chief minister although he was considered one of the towering leaders in national politics.

‘But, I’m not wrong’

Patil, who joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government under the leadership of Ajit Pawar in July, insisted that he was not wrong, because he had made a similar observation at (unified) party meetings and conventions. Walse-Patil's clarifications came following backlash from the rival camp. Even the Ajit-led group had taken a breather, considering the ill-effects of Sharad Pawar’s criticism.