Assembly Polls: Sharad Pawar congratulates Mamata, Stalin, Vijayan on respective election wins

As his prediction turned cent-percent correct, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar — a master of coalition politics — sent out congratulatory notes to Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, and M K Stalin to ensure that the BJP does not get a breakthrough in their states.

Pawar (80), who has just come out of back-to-back surgeries, was glued to TV sets throughout the day and checking on updates and putting out a series of tweets.

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“Congratulations on your stupendous victory! Let us continue our work towards the welfare of people and tackling the Pandemic collectively,” he told Banerjee, the AITMC founder and West Bengal Chief Minister, who would assume the top post for the third successive term.

“Congratulations on your win, a truly well deserved victory! Wishing you the best to serve people who have instilled their faith in you!,” Pawar told Stalin, the charismatic DMK founder M Karunanidhi’s son and Tamil Nadu Leader of Opposition, who would become Chief Minister for the first time.

“Congratulations on a historical consecutive victory in the Kerala elections. Together we fought these elections and now together we will fight the battle against Covid,” he told Vijayan, the veteran CPI(M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister, who is set to another term.

Pawar also congratulated veteran leader PC Chacko, who recently left Congress to join NCP. “Congratulations for playing a crucial role in NCP’s success in Kerala assembly polls. I am sure that he will continue to contribute towards strengthening NCP in the state in future,” he told Chacko and extended best wishes to the two newly-elected Kerala MLAs - A K Saseendran (Elathur) and Thomas K Thomas (Kuttanad).

It may be recalled that on 14 March, Pawar, a four-time Maharashtra Chief Minister and three-time Union Minister, had said: “The outcome of Assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala will give a new direction to the country.”