Sharad Pawar attends dinner with Shinde, Fadnavis; 'We differ politically but'

 Sharad Pawar said when he was BCCI president, Narendra Modi used to come for meetings as the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday shared the same platform as Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar shared the same platform at a special dinner held in Mumbai, a day before the Mumbai Cricket Association election today. BJP's Ashish Shelar, who was elected as the BCCI treasurer on Tuesday, was also present at the event. Interestingly, Sharad Pawar is supporting the BJP leader in the election for the post of the MCA president.

Milind Narvekar, the close aide of Uddhav Thackeray, and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad are also contesting the election and filed their nominations from the panel formed by Pawar and Shelar. The Sharad Pawar- Ashish Shelar panel held a meeting with the chief minister and the deputy chief minister at the dinner.

"Pawar, Fadnavis and Shelar are on the same dais...It may give some people sleepless nights. But this is not the place to indulge in politics. All of us are fans and supporters of sports; hence we have come together for its development irrespective of our political differences," Shinde said.

Sharad Pawar said despite having different political mindsets, they share the same thoughts about sports. "When I was the BCCI president, Narendra Modi used to come for meetings when he was the president of the Gujarat Cricket Association, and current Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and Rajeev Shukla (current BCCI vice president) used to come from Himachal. They came because we have the same passion for sports," Sharad Pawar said.