Some move aside as they become older: Ajit Pawar’s reply to uncle

A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said it was the right time to promote new leadership, his nephew Ajit Pawar said he agrees with his uncle’s views but added that some people make way for the younger lot when they get older

A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar said it was the right time to promote new leadership, his nephew Ajit Pawar said he agrees with his uncle’s views but added that some people make way for the younger lot when they get older.

Mumbai, Apr 18 (ANI): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar addresses a press conference, in Mumbai on Tuesday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

“I too believe that younger party workers, including new faces, should be brought forward. This has been our method for years. Some people also make way for the young when they become older,” Ajit Pawar, leader of opposition in the assembly, told reporters outside Vidhan Bhavan on Thursday.

He further said that the senior Pawar has always promoted new leadership in the last 50 years of his political career, and it is because of this policy they got the opportunity to prove their mettle in the political field.

His statements have raised eyebrows in the political circles as there is a widespread speculation that the nephew wants to join hands with the ruling BJP along with a group of NCP MLAs. Ajit Pawar is considered number two in the party and wields influence over a significant number of legislators.

Speaking at a party function in Chembur on Wednesday, the NCP chief said, “We need to create new leadership in the party. The time has come to keep the bread rotating; else it will burn. This is the right time to do it, without which things will not work.”

Ajit Pawar also said he will follow the advice of MNS chief Raj Thackeray and pay attention to his uncle. “The way Raj saheb paid attention to his uncle, I will also pay attention to my uncle,” he quipped. Thackeray made the remark at a programme on Wednesday.

The former deputy chief minister also asked his supporters to stop putting up his hoardings. “I have never told them to erect my posters. Stop installing them from now on.”

Ajit Pawar’s supporters have erected hoardings in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Osmanabad and Pune, declaring him the future chief minister of Maharashtra.

NCP MP roots for Jayant Patil as CM

Amol Kolhe, NCP MP from Shirur in Pune, has said that he sees party’s state unit president Jayant Patil as the ideal chief minister.

Patil is considered a loyalist of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was appointed as the legislative party chief after Ajit Pawar defected with a splinter group of MLAs and formed an alliance government with the BJP in November 2019, which fell apart three days later.

Speaking in Sangli on Thursday, Kolhe said, “Patil was the longest serving finance minister of the state. Even today, a worker like me, looks up to him as the ideal chief minister.”

Kolhe also praised Patil’s son Prateek, who according to him, is very down to earth despite being born into a politician’s family.

In January last year, Patil had expressed his desire to become the chief minister, saying the decision would be taken by NCP chief. Besides senior Pawar, he is the only other leader who carried out a statewide tour in the name of ‘NCP Parivar Samwad Yatra’ last year.