NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday targeted Praful Patel, who has been sacked from the party for siding with Ajit Pawar, saying he was fortunate unlike others as he used to get elected to Parliament without facing any elections just by filling the form.
After Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister on Sunday, the Pawar senior had singled out Patel and MP Sunil Tatkare for "abandoning" the guidelines of the party president and taking a "wrong path". On Monday, Sharad Pawar sacked Patel, the working president of NCP, and general secretary Tatkare for engaging in "anti-party activities".
Addressing a press conference here before announcing the decision to sack Patel and Tatkare, Pawar said, "All our MLAs and MPs (pointing at some of them flanking him) have done a lot of hard work to get elected. They go among people and work but Praful (Patel) is a fortunate colleague who by just filling out the form becomes an MP. "These people (MLAs) do not have to go and cast their votes to elect him (Patel). He gets elected unopposed and no election-related expense is incurred".
Patel is "fortunate" as he gets the opportunity to become a member of Parliament easily, Pawar added. When asked if Patel has expressed his wish to meet him but stuck to his stand, Pawar said Patel has the right to take any stand. "If he wants to offer some guidance, we will just listen and leave it," he added.
Pawar also asserted that he is the last authority in NCP and had fixed some responsibilities for Patel. "If he (Patel) does something contrary to those responsibilities by breaking the line of the party, he has no right to remain in that position," he added.
Asked whether he was pained to see that leaders groomed by him are deserting him, Pawar replied in the negative. "Not at all. My experience tells me that whenever such a situation emerges, the final decision is taken by people and common voters in elections. I have faith in them," he said.
Talking about his state-wide tour, which he launched from Karad city in western Maharashtra, the NCP patriarch said he wanted to reassure young cadres of NCP to not feel upset after the current happenings in the party. "During my journey from Pune to Satara, I saw a large number of party workers, especially young people, waiting for me and extending support," he said.
Queried on Ajit Pawar's statement that if "NCP can go with Shiv Sena, it can also go with BJP", Pawar said such developments are not unprecedented in politics. "After the Emergency, the only person in the country who supported the Emergency was Balasaheb Thackeray. In subsequent elections, Shiv Sena didn't field any candidate against the Congress," Pawar said.
"The leaders who took oath yesterday were also part of the erstwhile MVA government. But that time (when they took oath in 2019), they didn't look worried, so there is no need to assign any importance to what they are saying," he added. Asked if the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate prompted some NCP leaders to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government, Pawar said he didn't have any information regarding this.
"I only heard what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said recently said about corruption in NCP. Modi spoke about the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (scam) and purported irrigation scam while talking about NCP. "But he didn't stop our main leaders from taking the oath. It shows that the allegations levelled by him were devoid of facts. In a nutshell, the leadership of the country has declared them (NCP leaders) innocent," Pawar quipped.
He recalled how MLAs had left him in the 1980s but he rebuild the organisation with the support of people. Queried about NCP MP Amol Kolhe's tweet, the NCP chief said Ajit Pawar is also not someone who is an outsider.
A day earlier, Kolhe was seen with Ajit Pawar at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai but on Monday he declared his allegiance to Sharad Pawar. "My daughter (Supriya Sule) had also gone there thrice (at the meeting convened earlier on Sunday by Ajit Pawar). There is nothing wrong," Pawar added.
He said the decision on disqualification of nine MLAs who have joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government will be taken by NCP state president Jayant Patil. "Patil's decision will be supported," he added.
Pawar said several MLAs (of his party) had called him in view of the Sunday's development. "They will declare their stand at the right moment," he added.
Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar has held a meeting with deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at Fadnavis' bungalow in Mumbai. When asked about this meeting, Pawar said the Speaker's post is an institution that is bound by rules, regulations, and protocol.
"The person chairing it should ensure the dignity of that institution," he added.
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