Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief and Member of Parliament Sharad Pawar downplayed the recent sensational claims on the government formation politics made by former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "He has a lot of free time nowadays. Hence he is trying to gain publicity by saying anything," Pawar remarked.

Pawar made these remarks in a press conference on Saturday while he was on Satara district tour. Pawar also commented on BJP leader and MLA Gopichand Padalkar's recent derogatory remark. "Why should we take notice of someone who has been rejected by people," Pawar said.

Fadnavis had recently in an interview said that the NCP had itself approached Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to form government in the state when their longtime ally Shivsena was not willing to support. The offer had come from none other than the NCP chief, Fadnavis had claimed. Political circles were abuzz with these sensational claims of Fadnavis. In another incident, MLA Padalkar had made an inappropriate remark on Sharad Pawar. NCP workers had protested against Padalkar and demanded an apology from him. Many were curious about the response Pawar would give on these issues. On Saturday, Pawar responded to both leaders in his own way.

During the press conference, Pawar was asked to comment on Fadnavis's claim of NCP support offer. He said, "There is no truth in it. Fadnavis has a lot of free time nowadays. He wants to gain publicity by making any statement."

When asked about Padalkar's remark and his reaction to it, Pawar without naming him, said, "He had contested general elections from the Madha constituency, but he got so fewer votes that he lost his deposit. He also contested the assembly elections from Baramati constituency in 2019. He again lost that election and his deposit too. Earlier, people had rejected him when he contested from the Sangli constituency. Why should we take notice of someone who has been rejected by people from time to time."