BJP obsessed with Pawars, says NCP working president

The Baramati Lok Sabha MP asserted that the BJP lacked both a national and State vision

“I am flattered that the Centre’s and State politics revolved around my father and brother. The BJP is so obsessed with them that they have no time to chart out a vision for the country’s and the State’s development. How will they reduce inflation and create jobs?” Ms. Sule asked. | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule on June 30 criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP’s) fixation on her father and party supremo Sharad Pawar and cousin Ajit Pawar, amid ongoing verbal sparring between the two parties regarding the formation of a short-lived government in Maharashtra in 2019.

Expressing her dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition in the State, the Baramati Lok Sabha MP asserted that the BJP lacked both a National and State vision. “The BJP has no vision either for the country or the State,” she said.

“I am flattered that the Centre’s and State politics revolved around my father and brother. The BJP is so obsessed with them that they have no time to chart out a vision for the country’s and the State’s development. How will they reduce inflation and create jobs?” she asked.

Ms. Sule also condemned Tamil Nadu Governor R. N. Ravi’s move of dismissing Cabinet Minister V. Senthil Balaji and described it as ‘dictatorship’. “He acted as if he was the Governor of the BJP, not Tamil Nadu,” she said.

Stating that BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had no time to take measures to reduce inflation or ensure women’s security, but wanted to speak on issues which were not relevant in the present context, Ms. Sule said unless Mr. Pawar was targeted there was no news.

She was responding to a query about the ongoing verbal sparring between Mr. Fadnavis and the NCP over the formation of government in 2019 with Mr. Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Mr. Ajit Pawar as his deputy which lasted less than 80 hours.

“He only wants to go back in time and speak about the early morning swearing-in and gossip. This is unfortunate. A chewing gum tastes nice in the start but then it becomes tasteless,” she said.

Recently, Mr. Fadnavis claimed that ‘they’ had the full blessings of the senior Pawar to form the government after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray ‘backstabbed’ the BJP, but at the last moment, the NCP supremo changed his stance. Responding to his statement, Mr. Sharad Pawar on Thursday said that he intended to expose the saffron party which “cannot survive without power.”

“The BJP leaders in the State are restless… The morning swearing-in ceremony with Ajit Pawar established that the BJP can go with anyone to be in power. That is what I wanted to prove and I did so. You may call it my ploy or anything else… Even if I may not have played cricket, I know how to throw a googly as I have been Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and ICC president,” he said.

Published - June 30, 2023 07:01 pm IST