A day after downplaying the criticism of his party and leadership in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece Saamana, NCP President Sharad Pawar shot back with unusual aggression, saying he did not give importance to the opinion expressed in the editorial because he knew what he was doing.
  
On Monday, the article, supposedly authored by the editor-turned-Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had created a furore as it raised questions about some NCP leaders’ intention to switch over to the BJP and said Pawar had failed in creating a leadership that could succeed him. NCP leaders had reacted strongly and slammed Raut, wondering whether the editor MP wanted the NCP to exit the tripartite coalition the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

However, Pawar downplayed the development on Monday, saying that the people in Saamana and he (NCP) worked together and that the MVA was unaffected. Tuesday was different. Pawar went all out, saying that they might write because it was their right, but he did not value or give importance to the editorial. “He [the writer] doesn’t know what I have done. In our party, colleagues discuss many things, express different opinions, but we don’t go out to speak about them to seek publicity. This pertains to our family [the party] and our colleagues know how the party will progress. They know how the new leadership is created,” he told the media persons in Satara.