Show of strength: NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday (August 26) held a roadshow, receiving a grand welcome in Maharashtra’s Baramati, his Assembly constituency and also Sharad Pawar’s pocket borough, on his first-ever visit after he joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
Ajit Pawar was showered with flowers and presented a huge garland during his visit.
Speaking on the occasion, Pawar said that he joined the Maharashtra government only for the development of the state and lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementing various developmental projects in the country.
Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government on July 2 along with eight other NCP MLAs. He was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.
"I will not break the faith of Barmatikars. The only reason I joined the government of Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis was for the development of Maharashtra. I never wanted to insult anybody ever, I just accepted the reality," he said without taking names while addressing the rally.
Lauding the Prime Minister, he said that Modi is working hard.
"India accepted (Jawaharlal) Nehruji for his leadership. People also loved Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee for their qualities. Manmohan Singh ji served as the prime minister for ten years but he spoke less. Now, Modiji is working hard," he said.
He said that he was critical of PM Modi in the past, however, he later saw multiple projects and development taking place in the country. "I want to appreciate Modiji," he added.
"NCP could have got CM post..."
He said the Nationalist Congress Party- founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar- could have got the chief minister's post back in 2004.
"But I do not want to go deep and talk about that topic. Even Sonia Gandhi had told late Vilasrao Deshmukh that NCP has more number of seats than Congress but still we didn't make it to the CM's post. Also, Uddhav Thackeray could have given the CM's post for 2.5 years, but let it be, I do not want to comment anything more,” Ajit said while assuring that he will “do justice” to the post of Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
Thackeray had parted ways with its decades-old ally BJP after the 2019 Assembly polls alleging that the BJP did not keep its promise of sharing of CM post for 2.5 years.
He later joined hands with NCP, Congress, against whom he contested in the alliance with the BJP, and grabbed the chief minister’s chair forming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in which Ajit Pawar was the Deputy CM.
"Currently we are working to provide better facilities to the people of Baramati. Many schemes are coming through the Prime Minister which will prove effective for the state. Work on roads, gardens, and overbridges is currently going on. I want to make Baramati a clean and neat city," Ajit Pawar said.
Overwhelmed by the reception, Ajit said that he never witnessed such a grand welcome in his life.
Notably, the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency is represented by Ajit Pawar's cousin sister Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar.
On Friday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar caused a flutter when he said there was no split in his party and Ajit Pawar is its leader, only to deny his statement a few hours later.
(With PTI inputs)
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