On Friday, the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said that he could stake claim to the post of the Maharashtra Chief Minister even now instead of waiting for the 2024 Assembly elections. Pawar was speaking at a special event organized by the Sakal Media Group in Pune.
“In 2004, the NCP could have had its first Chief Minister. The NCP had numbers on its side. Some decisions are taken at the highest level. To maintain party discipline, we follow the directives issued by the seniors. In 2004, we had an alliance with the Congress. We had won 71 seats. Even the Congress had made up its mind that the NCP will have its Chief Minister. But after some developments, we were told the Congress would get the Chief Minister’s post. Our MLAs had elected R R Patil as our legislative party leader but we missed the opportunity. Later, we stood second in terms of MLAs and, therefore, had to remain satisfied with the Deputy Chief Minister’s post,” he said.
Further, when asked if he would like to be the Chief Minister of the state, he affirmed positively and said, “100 per cent”. He meanwhile also reiterated that he would remain loyal to the Nationalist Congress Party and he would stand bythe party’s ideology.
This comes days after speculations were rife about Ajit Pawar leaving NCP to join hands with the BJP. Also, several media reports were published which claimed that Ajit Pawar was allegedly preparing to join the BJP with the support of more than 40 MLAs, who have also signed a petition in favour of his decision.
Pawar subsequently refuted the accusations in a press conference this week. He affirmed that he is not leaving the NCP and that no signatures of any MLAs had been obtained to support the speculated shift. Also, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar dismissed speculations about Ajit Pawar’s political move. He said that no meeting of the party MLAs had been called in the matter. However earlier, when asked whether NCP would form an alliance with BJP, the NCP supremo had said that it was difficult to predict the future. “Nothing can be said about what will happen in the future,” he was quoted.
Ajit Pawar on April 21 while talking to the Sakal Media group showered praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He said that it was Narendra Modi’s “charisma” that allowed BJP to come to power in the year 2014 and also 2019.
“The BJP came to power in 2014 and 2019. The only reason for this is Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi’s charisma reigned in the country. He won the confidence of the country. Through his speeches, he impressed the people. And that’s why people thought the country’s reins should be handed over to him,” he said.
“BJP had leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi who could take everyone along. They couldn’t do so, but Narendra Modi did it. The BJP had never won a full majority. Narendra Modi ensured majority for the BJP,” he said.
Further while lauding the BJP and the RSS, he said that BJP is a unique party which does not work alone. “There are so many other organizations like the RSS, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, etc who support BJP. And this happens in no other political party. The working structure of the BJP is amazing,” he said.
On speaking about the rebellion of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Pawar said that he knew Shinde would take such step and that (Pawar) had also warned about it to Sharad Pawar and the then CM Uddhav Thackeray. “Though we had the reins in our hands, they managed it so well that we could not do anything. Uddhav Thackeray, as Chief Minister, had given all authority to Shinde to decide who would be officers in Thane district. All the civic and police officers were appointed by Shinde (then Cabinet minister). All the officers remained loyal to Shinde when he decided to escape to Surat along with some MLAs. Though Uddhav asked the officers to ensure that the vehicles escaping to Surat were turned back to Matoshree, the officers remained loyal to Shinde,” he said.
It is worth noting that Ajit Pawar had on April 8 also praised the BJP-led government and said that it was PM Modi’s magic that the party had reached the remotest of the locations. He also slammed the people who criticized Modi for his education and said that it was important to see how that man works.
