Ajit Pawar Praises Modi, Criticises Uncle Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: Ajit Pawar on Friday accused his uncle Sharad Pawar of repeatedly deceiving him and others in the party over the decision of alliance with the BJP. The Maharashtra deputy chief said that his party will work to ensure the third term of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

Addressing a two-day conclave of his party in Raigad district of Maharashtra, Ajit said that he always acted as per the instructions given by his “seniors” (Sharad Pawar). He said that all NCP MLAs, including those with Sharad Pawar now, wanted to join the government.

Ajit told his supporters that all party MLAs wanted the party to join the government, which was conveyed to Sharad Pawar, first through Supriya Sule and then by himself. He further claimed that the senior Pawar is indecisive for several days.

“Then we again met him, and urged him to decide fast as lot of time had already been taken.  Later he (Sharad Pawar) called me and said that he will resign from the post of NCP president and we should join the government after that. Only four people in the family knew about it. As decided, he announced his decision to resign and formed a 15-members committee to elect the new party president. After announcing his resignation, he went home where he called Anand Paranjape and Jitendra Awhad and told them to ensure protests against his decision. I do not understand that if he did not want to resign, then why do all this?” Ajit asked.

The Maharashtra DCM further claimed that after he joined the government on July 2,  Sharad Pawar invited all NCP ministers and MLAs to meet him at Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan in Mumbai on July 17. “If you did not like our decision of July 2, why meet us after 15 days? We were told that everything will be normal after the meeting. Then again I was called by a businessman from Pune to have a meeting with Sharad Pawar and Jayan Patil on August 12. The businessman told me that everything will be sorted after the meeting. Were these meetings held only to deceive us? If you do not agree with something, say so and end the matter. I don’t like this indecisiveness,” he said.

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Ajit told his supporters to work to get a third term for the prime minister. He also said that his faction will contest from Baramati, Shirur, Raigad and Satara — all four Lok Sabha seats which are with the NCP. Supriya Sule is an MP from Baramati. “We will also be contesting from a few more seats which were won by Shiv Sena (UBT),” he said.