NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday announced that his party would not field any candidate in the forthcoming Beed lok Sabha bypolls, in the event of the BJP fielding any member of late Gopinath Munde’s family as its candidate.
Pawar made an announcement to this effect at an all-party condolence meeting for late Munde, organised by the Mumbai BJP unit here on Saturday evening.At the function, leaders of various political parties, including the BJP’s national president Rajnath Singh, Pawar and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, paid rich tributes to late Munde.
Among the leaders present on the occasion were RPI(A) president Ramdas Athavale and Union Minister Piyush Goyal.Speaking on the occasion, Rajnath Singh said that late Munde, who was the rural face of the BJP, had all along worked for the farmers and poor people and had a lot of concern for the welfare of the backwards of the people.
“The real tribute to late Munde would be that in this modern age, we should never forget the poorest of the poor, backward classes and Dalits”.Pawar and Uddhav heaped praise on late Munde for the immense contribution that he had made to the state on various developmental fronts. They said that late Munde represented the voice of farmers, poor and Dalits in the state.
Uddhav recalled that late Munde and his brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, who had passed away earlier, were like members of the Thackeray family. He said he treated late Munde’s legislator-daughter Pankaja as his own sister and would support her in all future political and personal endeavours.
Pawar’s announcement about not fielding any candidate in Beed lok Sabha by-polls in the event of the BJP putting up a candidate from late Munde’s family is being seen as a magnanimous gesture on his part, considering that the departed BJP leader was his arch political rival all along.