In a political reconciliation of sorts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s home town of Baramati, inaugurate an auditorium named after Pawar’s elder brother Appa Saheb Pawar and have lunch with Maratha strongman at the latter’s residence “Govindbaug” during a day-long visit to Maharashtra, on Saturday.
The Prime Minister’s visit to Pawar’s home town of Baramati in Pune district assumes considerable political significance in the light of the fact that Saturday’s will be first public engagement involving the two leaders, after the October 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls which saw Modi go hammers and tongs at the NCP chief and exhort the people of Baramati to “free" themselves from the slavery of “Chacha-Bhatija” (Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar).
That time can heal political rivalries can be evidenced from the fact that Modi had at one stage during his Assembly poll campaign, Modi had dubbed the NCP, headed by Pawar, as the Nationalist Corrupt Party.
Singling out Pawar and nephew Ajit Pawar for a severe castigation, Modi had said that the NCP is not a Rashtravadi (Nationalist) party, but a "bhrashtacharvadi" (corrupt) Party. “The Congress and NCP are beads of the same necklace. They are not rashtravadis but brashtacharvadis. The needle of the NCP clock (election symbol) has remained where it was when it was set up (in 1999). How can a party that has not been able to change its own fortunes to change the fortunes of the people in the State,” Modi had said, while addressing an election rally at Baramati.
Though he was not as vicious as the Prime Minister in his attack against the latter, Pawar had also taken a jibe at Modi and BJP for seeking the blessings of Chhatrapati Shivaji. “The same people from Surat had dubbed Shivaji as a looter of their treasury. What have they got do with the Shivaji that has prompted them seek his blessingsIJ,” Pawar had asked.
Though the NCP – after he Assembly polls threw up a hung house — had tried to cosy up to the Modi-led party by offering its outside support to the ruling BJP in Maharashtra, the principal ruling party had not publicly accepted or rejected the support extended from outside by the Sharad Pawar-led party. However, with its erstwhile saffron alliance partner Shiv Sena joining the Devendra Fadnavis-led Government at a later stage, the predicament of whether or not to accept the NCP support, faced by the BJP ended subsequently.
On his part, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday set the mood for Modi’s visit to Baramati on Saturday, by defending the Prime Minister’s decision to share a public platform with once his arch political rival Pawar. “We ( BJP and NCP) may have differences, but that does not mean that we should treat Pawar as politically “untouchable”. There is nothing wrong in the Prime Minister sharing a platform with a leader of an Opposition party. After all, the Prime Minister represents the entire country".
During his Saturday’s visit to Baramati, the Prime Minister will inaugurate the building of a CBSC school on the premises of an educational institute run by the Pawars. later, Modi will visit the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and lay foundation stone for the Centre for Excellence for Vegetable Production.