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As the battle for the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency inches closer, the campaigning rhetoric surrounding the Pawar family has sharpened noticeably.
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On Wednesday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar chose to downplay Prime Minister Modi’s comments deriding his uncle Sharad Pawar earlier this week during the PM’s rallies in the four Lok Sabha seats of Pune district.
Chronic instability
Earlier this week, during his rally in Pune, the PM sardonically alluded to the 83-year-old Sharad Pawar as a “roving, restless spirit” (bhatakti atma) who was responsible for Maharashtra’s chronic political instability.
In Pune today, Ajit Pawar, who split the NCP founded by his uncle last year, chose to remain silent on the PM’s comments, saying he did not know whom Mr. Modi was referring to.
Ajit also said that while he regarded Pawar senior as “his God” in the past, they were now on different paths.
“I was present when the Prime Minister made these remarks … I am not aware of whom he was referring to… I will ask when we meet next during an election rally. I do not want to comment on a statement made by a leader of such high stature,” Ajit Pawar said.
Modi’s broadside
On Monday, the PM, who had shared the dais with Ajit Pawar, launched a broadside against the latter’s uncle saying: “There are some wandering spirits whose dreams are never fulfilled. Maharashtra, too, has been prey to such spirits. 45 years ago, a big leader [Sharad Pawar], for the sake of his ambitions, began this game. Since then, Maharashtra has been plunged into instability with no Chief Minister completing his tenure.”
The PM was alluding to events in 1978 when Mr. Pawar became the State’s youngest CM by toppling Congressman Vasantdada Patil’s government.
“India has to be saved from such roving spirits. I want this Mahayuti government in Maharashtra to surge forward and complete the work that has been left undone for 25 years,” Mr. Modi said.
A day after PM Modi’s comments, Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday that his soul was “restless” because he was constantly thinking of ways to aid farmers and the common man, who are under great pressure owing to the BJP regime at the Centre.
One of the keenest electoral battles is being fought in Baramati between Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar - the Mahayuti’s candidate - and incumbent MP Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar’s daughter and the MVA’s candidate.
The seat goes to the polls in the third phase on May 7.
