Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who started his statewide tour in Maharashtra from Nashik on Saturday, apologised to the people of Yeola in his rally. The Pawar apology came against the backdrop of ongoing Maharashtra political drama wherein his nephew and other party leaders broke ties with him and joined the BJP-Eknath Shinde government. Among the rebel party leader is Chhagan Bhujbal and Yeola is the constituency of Bhujbal where Pawar visited yesterday.
Formerly a key aide of the NCP patriarch, Bhujbal was among the 8 NCP rebels who went against Pawar, along with Sharad Pawar’s nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
Addressing a rally at Yeola on Saturday, Pawar senior said, “This rally is not about making any allegations against anyone. I am here to apologize to all of you.”
“I regret making a wrong decision (in fielding Bhujbal from this constituency). You trusted me and voted for my party but my decision turned out to be wrong. So, it is my duty to apologise to you. Next time, when I come here, I promise I won’t repeat this mistake,” the NCP chief said at the rally.
“A few days back, PM Modi pointed fingers at the NCP and the Congress in a rally. I want to tell him, if we do anything wrong, act against us. If we do anything wrong, we are ready to be punished. However, this is a fight for the Lok Sabha and, we, the Opposition, are ready for it,” the NCP chief said.
On Ajit Pawar taunting him about his age and advising him to retire from politics, the NCP chief said while he was against making personal remarks against anyone, if he or fellow leaders in his faction made similar remarks, the others won’t like it.
Maharashtra was rocked by a fresh political quake after Ajit Pawar split the NCP down the middle and joined the NDA government in the state along with 8 fellow MLAs and top leaders, including Bhujbal, Praful Patel, and Hasan Mushrif.
While Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister in the Shinde government, his fellow dissidents were also sworn in as ministers.
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Updated: 09 Jul 2023, 06:28 AM IST