Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said that his party will not ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party, even as some “well-wishers” have been trying to persuade him to do so, PTI reported.

“As the national president of the NCP, I am making it clear that my party will not go with the BJP,” Pawar told reporters in Solapur district. “Any association with the Bharatiya Janata Party does not fit in NCP’s political policy.”

Referring to the faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar, that has allied with the BJP, the senior leader said: “Some of our well-wishers are trying to see if there can be any change in our stand. That is why they are trying to have a cordial discussion with us.”

Pawar made the statement a day after media reports said that he held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Pune.

Commenting on the reports, he said: “What is wrong with meeting my nephew? If a senior person in a family desires to meet another family member, there should not be any issue with that.”

On Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party chief shared the dais Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis at an event to unveil a statue of late MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh.

Ajit Pawar, along with eight rebel MLAs of the party, had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena coalition government in Maharashtra in July. The move led to a split within the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting veteran leader Sharad Pawar and the other supporting his nephew, Ajit Pawar.

Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister on July 2. Eight other NCP MLAs – Dharmobaba Atram, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Aditi Tatkare, Anil Patil, Sanjay Bhansode – also took oath as ministers.

Commenting on Pawar’s statement on Sunday, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut said that the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi would prefer a “clear-cut stand” from Sharad Pawar on his stand about the BJP, The Indian Express reported.

“We are unanimous in our view that Sharad Pawar should set the record straight once and for all. He should remove the confusion regarding his faction’s stand,” he said. “… His meeting in this fashion will only create confusion in the minds of the voters, which will prove costly for the MVA in the ensuing elections.”