Sharad Pawar, who is back on the roads claiming to rebuild the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that he sees no problem if the NCP rebels led by his nephew Ajit Pawar decide to come back. Sharad Pawar however cautioned that the rebel leaders are no longer political greenhorns.
“Nothing will be done from my end to escalating tensions…. if anyone wants to do a rethink, there is no problem….,” Sharad Pawar said adding a quick disclaimer that these politicians were no longer hatchlings, they had grown “powerful.”
On Ajit Pawar’s allegation that Sharad Pawar has himself discussed joining hands with BJP, the 82-year-old leader asserted that discussions happen all the time within parties. Sharad Pawar also replied to Ajit Pawar’s retirement jibe in his witty way and quoted former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and said “I am neither tired nor retired.”
‘Ajit Pawar faction should heed their conscience’
Sharad Pawar responded to Ajit Pawar’s faction claiming control over the party with workers of the two factions even engaging in physical brawls over the party offices. The NCP supremo said that the Ajit Pawar faction should desist from taking this step by heeding their conscience.
“The Nationalist Welfare Trust has properties in different places and I am its president. My colleagues took a different stand. They can take a political stand. But staking a claim to the original party or its property is not right. I think they will desist from taking this step by heeding their conscience,” Sharad Pawar said.
Why Sharad Pawar started from Nashik?
The choice of Nashik as his first step to rebuilding NCP was a conscious decision by Sharad Pawar who said it was from here that then chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan was elected unopposed to the Lok Sabha after Jawaharlal Nehru invited him to join the Union cabinet as defence minister.
Nashik also happens to be the stronghold of Ajit Pawar faction leader Chhagan Bhujbal. “I feel bad because I could not assess and my assessment was not right, and I don’t blame Bhujbal,” Pawar said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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Updated: 08 Jul 2023, 10:51 PM IST