The NCP supremo’s remark is being seen as a hint towards the split in Shiv Sena last year which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
The two leaders met for the first time after a split in Sharad Pawar’s party, led by his nephew Ajit Pawar, who joined the BJP and Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government.
Both the leaders were seen greeting each other and exchanging a few words when they met at the award ceremony.
The Prime Minister was honoured with the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak National Award at the event. The Award was constituted by Tilak Smarak Mandir Trust in 1983, to honour the legacy of Lokmanya Tilak.
After receiving the award, the prime minister gave a speech wherein he said that he dedicated the Lokmanya Tilak National Award to 140 crore Indians.Speaking about activist Bal Gangadhar Tilak who was part of the freedom struggle, Modi said that when the award is linked with Tilak, “responsibility doubles”.”We can’t explain his contribution to India’s freedom struggle in some words,” he said.
“Lokmanya Tilak had a unique ability to identify young talents. Veer Savarkar was one such example,” he added.
With this award, PM Modi became the 41st recipient of the award. The former recipients include luminaries such as Shankar Dayal Sharma, Pranab Mukherjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, NR Narayana Murthy, and E Sreedharan, among others.
(With inputs from PTI)
