Amid the growing strains between his party and its ally Congress over his recent meetings with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday vehemently dismissed speculation that he had been offered the Union Agriculture Minister’s post by the ruling BJP in lieu of nephew Ajit being made the Chief Minister of the State and expressed serious doubts about Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister once again after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Breaking his silence over former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s claim that he (Pawar) had been offered the Union Agriculture Minister’s post by the BJP through his nephew and that the latter had not accepted the offer, Sr Pawar said: “I have no idea what the former Chief Minister has said. No such discussion (about the offer made by the BJP) at the ‘secret’ meeting between me and Ajit Pawar. I am not denying that the meeting did not take place between me and my nephew. He had come to meet me.”
Talking to the media in Aurangabad, he said: “I am the head of the Pawar family. We have one tradition in our family. Whenever there is an issue in the family, the member concerned speaks to me and seeks my advice. There is no point in discussing more about now.”
Sr Pawar also denied another media speculation that in view of the recent meetings between him and Ajit, the Congress and Shiv Sena
(Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) were planning to float a separate alliance by excluding the NCP led by him. “There is no truth in the speculation. If you have read Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has clarified the basis on which he has made statements in this regard”.
Sr Pawar’s categorical assertions about the speculation arising out of his meetings with Ajit came on a day when Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole said that his party’s senior leaders of Congress “are keeping an eye” on the developments involving Sharad and Ajit and they would discuss the matter with the NCP at the INDIA meeting to be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.
Interacting with the media persons after his party’s core group meeting held to discuss preparations for the forthcoming India alliance meeting in Mumbai, Patole said: “There is no confusion in the Congress about Sharad Pawar, but there is confusion among the people about his stand. Sharad Pawar is a big leader, he is capable of taking decisions and he has made his position clear on this visit. He has made it clear that he will stay with the INDIA alliance. Senior Congress are keeping an eye on all this... They will discuss with Sharad Pawar during the INDIA meeting in Mumbai.”
Earlier, at a rally he addressed at Aurangabad, the NCP chief trained his guns at Modi for his remark made at his Independence day speech that he would return as Prime Minister after the 2024 Lok Sabha, by likening the statement to senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis’ much-discussed statement “Me Punha Yain, Me Punha Yain” made repeatedly at public rallies in the run-up to the 2019 State Assembly polls that he would return as the Chief Minister of the State.
“The situation prevailing in the country is not favourable for Modi. Modi may say any number of times that he would return as the Prime Minister after the 2024 polls, but he would find himself in the situation like Fadnavis did after the 2019 State Assembly polls”.
Coming down heavily on Modi for his no confidence motion speech in Lok Sabha, the NCP chief said: “During his speech, Modi spoke for five minutes about Manipur but spoke about other things for two hours. Modi did not think it was essential for him to go to Manipur to interact with the people there. He is more busy preparing for the elections... People are taking out Morchas in Manipur…The Modi Government is merely watching. That being the case, the public mood in the country is turning against the Modi Government.”
Sr Pawar also hit out at the Modi Government for its recent circular regarding CBSE “where they have said that August 14 will be remembered as partition horrors remembrance day”. “While we are trying to get out of the bitterness we faced during that time, the Modi Government has issued this circular. It is clear that it wants to spread bitterness among masses and divide the society,” he said.
Charging that the BJP was to destabilise elected Governments, Sr Pawar said: “Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are examples where they destabilised the Government,” he said.