With the excitement round him becoming a member of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation refusing to abate, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar on Tuesday once more reiterated he would “remain in the NCP till his last breath.”
Addressing a gathering of his occasion staff and constituents in the Pawar clan stronghold Baramati (in Pune district), Mr. Pawar mentioned that a lot of rumours had been unfold about him “for no reason” in the previous few days and urged his supporters to not fall prey to wild hypothesis.
“I have said before that I will remain in the NCP till my last breath. In the last few days, lots of rumours have been spread about me for no reason and a cloud of doubt created around me [alluding to buzz about possible defection to ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde dispensation]. But I remain committed to my work and have been going about it…Do not fall prey to such speculation,” mentioned Mr. Pawar, who’s Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and the nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.
The NCP chief, who had tried to kind a authorities with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis after the 2019 Assembly election, additional mentioned that the latest buzz might have even forged doubts in the minds of his supporters about his subsequent political transfer.
“You [Mr. Pawar’s supporters in the NCP] too may have had doubts whether I would do a repeat of 2019 [alluding to his early morning swearing-in with Mr. Fadnavis]…while I say what comes to my mind, there is a tendency to needlessly read too much into it,” mentioned Mr. Pawar, who has been the MLA for Baramati since 1991.
‘Baseless speculation’
After rumours of him becoming a member of the BJP-Shinde Sena reached a crescendo last week, Mr. Ajit Pawar himself spoke to reporters in Mumbai and categorically scotched the hypothesis as “baseless”.
“I do not like to keep clarifying before the media every time on this matter…just because I’m not seen for a while, they [the press] keep reporting me as being ‘not reachable’. Despite giving official clarification, false news of my programmes having been allegedly cancelled keep doing the rounds…this is then linked to the speculation of me joining the ruling party. Despite so many leaders and people in the State, I fail to understand why the media chooses to shower so much affection on me.” mentioned Mr. Pawar.
The NCP chief, chatting with occasion staff and voters forward of the market committee (APMC) polls, highlighted the event initiatives are that have been accomplished in his Assembly constituency.
Taking a swipe on the BJP on the State and the Modi authorities on the Centre, Mr. Pawar mentioned the latter, regardless of being in energy for greater than 9 years now, had not given a single undertaking for the good thing about Baramati. The impregnable stronghold of the Pawar clan has lengthy been on the BJP’s radar, being marked as one of many 144 Lok Sabha constituencies throughout the nation the place the occasion wants to extend its energy forward of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Remarks from Shinde camp
Meanwhile, Shinde camp spokesman Naresh Mhaske claimed that a ‘political earthquake’ was imminent in the State and that a ‘big’ NCP chief would quickly be a part of the ruling alliance.
Mr. Mhaske additional claimed that MLAs from the NCP , the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) would quickly be becoming a member of the Shinde-BJP authorities in “great numbers.”
In preserving with the tall claims and counterclaims from each the ruling and opposition MVA alliances, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), too, mentioned that Chief Minister Shinde’s ‘departure’ from the highest submit was “imminent.”
“The question was who would replace Shinde?” requested an edit in the Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamana, whose govt editor is Uddhav camp spokesperson Sanjay Raut.
Since the beginning of the excitement round Mr. Pawar reportedly planning to affix the BJP, Mr. Raut has constantly claimed that the NCP chief would by no means defect as he had a “bright future in the NCP” and wouldn’t prefer to be a “servant” below the Shinde-BJP dispensation.
Mr. Ajit Pawar, nonetheless, had sharply rebuked his ally, Mr. Raut for performing because the NCP’s spokesperson whereas advising the latter to thoughts the affairs of his personal occasion.
