In a departure from his usual ways, Sharad Pawar came down heavily on those who betrayed him and split the NCP that he had founded, taking the fight into the BJP’s home.
Mumbai: As electioneering enters the final phase, Sharad Pawar’s public rebuke of those who betrayed him and split his party, comes as a surprise to many. In the past year and a half, the patriarch of the NCP (SP) has not publicly condemned his former colleagues too often. Neither is he known to use intemperate language against his opponents, particularly the BJP. Even when BJP leaders called him a ‘bhatakti atma’ just before the Lok Sabha polls, Pawar only had a humourous retort. But this time, the angry statesmen has taken the fight to the people, almost as if urging the people to choose the right from the wrong.
In Yeola, Pawar came down heavily on Chhagan Bhujbal, remaking that he had “crossed all limits” and had betrayed not just him but also Bal Thackeray earlier and exhorted the voters to shun such as person. Dilip Walse Patil, a former close colleague who shared warm relations with the Pawar family, wasn’t spared either. Pawar ruefully remarked that he, too, had betrayed him. The hurt was evident. But the burning desire to upstage these leaders at the ballot box was there for all to see.
A party leader explains that Pawar’s decision was to consolidate his gains in a few constituencies where the NCP (SP) enjoys a good base. And this is in the rural belt of Maharashtra. The seats secured by the NCP (SP) are crucial for the party which sees the sugar and milk belt of western Maharashtra as its bastion from the early days of Pawar’s political career. He’s balanced the caste equations well; bringing in candidates with high “winnability” and also rewarding those who are loyal, while keeping an eye on the caste combination. Sandeep Kshirsagar is a stellar example—the young OBC leader has been fielded from Beed which is seeing widespread Maratha agitation. He’s been a loyal to the party and is being groomed as the NCP (SP)’s OBC face with Bhujbal’s departure. “It makes it all the more important for Pawar to criticise and expose Bhujbal. It makes way for people to recognise others,” says the party worker.
Rural Maharashtra is where the party has set its sights. Even as the MVA formed the government in 2019, the undivided NCP bagged the maximum number and the most influential portfolios in the cabinet. The NCP had taken 12 cabinet positions with portfolios linked to rural politics such as water resources, cooperation and rural development, apart from the key home and finance departments.
There are two days of active campaigning left and Pawar has zipped across the state, combing through every other constituency of rural Maharashtra especially Marathwada and Western Maharashtra. At 84, he declared that he will grow old only once the government changes. The state has barely seen a fighter as fierce as him.
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