NCP chief Sharad Pawar during an election campaign rally in support of party candidate Dhuneshwar Pethe for East Nagpur Assembly constituency, in Nagpur, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday claimed that Maharashtra has fallen into the wrong hands in the past few years and has suffered a decline.
He was in the Chinchwad assembly constituency in Pune district to canvass for his party candidate Rahul Kalate, who faces off against BJP’s Shankar Jagtap in the November 20 Maharashtra polls.
Pawar took part in a roadshow and addressed a public gathering in support of Kalate.
“Maharashtra was once ranked number one in the country but it has fallen into the wrong hands in recent times leading to the state’s downfall,” he said.
The NCP (SP) president said the Chinchwad constituency lacks even basic infrastructure. The Pimpri-Chinchwad area near Pune is an auto hub.
“Those in power here for the last 10 years didn’t complete any development projects. It’s time for the transformation of Chinchwad,” he said, and urged the public to vote for Kalate.
Pawar said Kalate has huge experience as he was earlier a corporator from the area. “I am sure good days will be back here,” he added.
In the Chinchwad constituency, the BJP replaced sitting MLA Ashwini Jagtap, the wife of late party leader Laxman Jagtap, and instead, nominated his brother Shankar Jagtap, who is contesting his first election.
In the 2019 state polls, Laxman Jagtap had defeated Kalate by over 38,000 votes.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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