‘Maharashtra knows who the founder of NCP is; will study cause of defeat’: Sharad Pawar

Free Press Journl

Mumbai

 Finally breaking his silence after the significant debacle in the Maharashtra assembly election, veteran leader Sharad Pawar said that the election results were nowhere near what he or his alliance parties in the Mahavikas Aghadi had imagined. Pawar, whose nephew Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP and split the three-decade-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was forced to form a new party called NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar).

Of the 87 candidates fielded, Sharad Pawar’s party managed to retain only 10 seats. His grandnephew, Yogendra Pawar, who contested against Ajit Pawar in the Baramati constituency, lost by a massive margin of over one lakh votes. Addressing the press in Karad, Maharashtra, Pawar said that he and his party would take time to study the cause of the defeat before drawing any conclusions. When asked if fielding Yogendra against a seasoned politician like Ajit Pawar had been a mistake, Pawar said there was no question of it being a wrong decision, as someone had to contest from that seat. Just six months ago, Pawar had put up an impressive performance in the parliamentary election, winning eight out of the 16 contested seats.

Today, however, the party is struggling for its existence. At a joint press conference by the Mahayuti allies – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction – the three leaders spoke about the “real” NCP and he “real” Shiv Sena party.