Following Lok Sabha win, Sharad Pawar talks of ‘taking control’ of Maharashtra

Mr. Pawar, during his Baramati visit, said his party would strive to “take control” of Maharashtra in the next four to six months

Updated - June 13, 2024 08:41 pm IST - Pune

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Sharad Pawar, and his daughter and party leader Supriya Sule. File

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, Sharad Pawar, and his daughter and party leader Supriya Sule. File | Photo Credit: AP

Buoyed by his spectacular success in the Lok Sabha election, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, seizing the initiative has begun campaigning hard for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly election.

On Thursday, Mr. Pawar, on the last day of his three-day Baramati visit said he would strive to “take control” of Maharashtra for which end his party must win the State Assembly election and change the [ruling Mahayuti] government in the next four-six months.

“State elections are due in four months. Come what may, it will be my endeavour to take control of the State. To achieve this, we must win the Assembly polls,” the 83-year-old NCP (SP) leader said.

The youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra at age 38 in 1978, Mr. Pawar has helmed the State in that capacity a total four times besides holding vital Union Cabinet portfolios like Defence and Agriculture in previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance governments at the Centre.

Mr. Pawar’s party had administered a sound drubbing to his nephew Ajit Pawar’s rival NCP faction and the Bharatiya Janata Party-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena candidates in eight Lok Sabha seats of the ten it fought on.

“Prior to the Lok Sabha election, my partymen used to tell me that people were silent and not speaking openly. I told them not to worry and said that even if they were not expressing themselves, they would press the right EVM button. When the EVMs were opened, that was exactly what happened. The people voted for us in large numbers,” he said.

Taking a meeting at Shirshuphal village in Baramati, Mr. Pawar told the gathering that while he would try and resolve the issues like farmers’ problems put before him, he could not give assurances now as a different government was in place.

“But after four months, we can certainly resolve these issues when we have our government in place,” he said.

Despite the magnitude of the split within the NCP in July last year, Mr. Sharad Pawar had remained unruffled, expressing confidence in building a younger leadership ahead of the Lok Sabha to replace those who deserted him while drawing an analogy with the events of 1980, when he had found himself politically marooned with barely five MLAs after more than 50 legislators of his party had left him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pawar’s statements prompted Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction leader Chhagan Bhujbal to say that the ruling Mahayuti must get serious about seat-sharing and streamlining issues regarding the Assembly election as Mr. Pawar had already gotten cracking on the ground.

“The Mahayuti parties need to sit soon and iron-out issues pertaining to ticket allocation and seat-sharing. Decide quickly who is the ‘big brother’, ‘middle brother,’ ‘younger brother’ and start campaigning quickly. Sharad Pawar has already begun campaigning. Even if are bogged down in talks, then we will face problems,” he cautioned.

Mr. Bhujbal, at a State executive meet of his NCP faction before the June 4 Lok Sabha result, had stressed that his party must secure 80-90 seats from its Mahayuti allies if it had to win on at least 60. The statement had caused some friction with the BJP leaders quickly rushing to assert their party as the ‘big brother’ of the ruling coalition.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.