NCP President Sharad Pawar
Credit: PTI File Photo
Amid confusion and murmurs among the I.N.D.I.A allies, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Wednesday re-asserted that he is with the Opposition bloc even as he doubted whether the BJP would return to power after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Pawar’s statement comes a day after Narendra Modi, in the address from Red Fort on the 77th Independence Day festivities, asserted that he would return to power in 2024 and give an account of India’s achievements next year on the same day.
In the wake of last week's sudden meeting with his nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Pune, the senior Pawar, a four-time former Maharashtra Chief Minister and three-time union minister, made it clear that there was no offer for him from anyone to become a central minister.
"I am the senior family member of the Pawar family. Who would give an offer,” Pawar told a news conference at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, earlier known as Aurangabad.
Last week’s Pawar uncle-nephew secret meeting has sent ripples in Maharashtra politics and I.N.D.I.A allies particularly, the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in Maharashtra as reports surfaced that Ajit Pawar was pursuing the senior Pawar to join the BJP-led NDA.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra’s Leader of the Opposition and senior Congressman Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that Modi proposed the Chief Minister position to Ajit Pawar if he brings his uncle along.
“I have no knowledge of Congress leaders giving such statements. Ajit Pawar talked about no offer in the meeting,” Pawar said.
“The Modi government is taking such decisions, due to which disputes and bitterness will increase on the basis of caste in the society,” he said, hitting out at the Modi-dispensation.
Pawar also hit out at Modi vis-a-vis the Manipur ethnic conflict. “The Modi government has been a mute spectator to the goings on in the (Manipur) region. The northeast region is important and sensitive. More attention needs to be paid to the areas bordering China,” said Pawar, who had served as Defence Minister in the early-90s.
Pawar said that the Prime Minister spoke outside Parliament and gave a three minute video message on day one of the monsoon session, and also briefly mentioned Manipur in his reply to the no-confidence motion, during which he made a long address.
On Modi’s assertion that he BJP-led would win the 2024 polls and he would come back again, Pawar said: “Modi seems to be seeking guidance from Devendra Fadnavis, therefore, in his recent speeches, he started saying he will come in 2024 also. Fadnavis said me punha yein’ (I will be back!) ahead of the 2019 polls….yes…he did return but not in the same post.”