Dy CM threatens to defeat Sharad Pawar loyalist MP Kolhe

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has announced that his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will put up a candidate against sitting MP Amol Kolhe in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Pawar has been targeting his uncle Sharad Pawar and other leaders of his faction in recent weeks.

Mumbai: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Monday sharpened his attack on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction headed by his uncle Sharad Pawar, claiming he would ensure its sitting MP Amol Kolhe’s defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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The minister said his faction of the party would put up a candidate against Kolhe. He had earlier announced that the party would contest from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency against his cousin and sitting MP Supriya Sule.

With Monday’s comments, Pawar also made it clear that Kolhe was not welcome in his faction. On November 23, Kolhe had met Pawar at his office in Mantralaya leading to the speculations of him joining their faction. Kolhe was also among the leaders who were present at the oath-taking ceremony of Ajit Pawar and eight other ministers when they rebelled against NCP chief Sharad Pawar and decided to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government on July 2.

“I had made him a candidate (in the last general election) and we took all the efforts to get him elected. This time, I will ensure that a candidate against him will be elected,” Ajit Pawar said during in a media interaction in Pune on Monday.

The deputy chief minister said that Kolhe was supposed to resign as Lok Sabha member more than a year ago because his film career was getting affected. “He is an artist and has offered to resign saying it is affecting his career in films. His movie on Shivaji Maharaj also did not work well, bringing him financial trouble. I did not want to reveal all this, but he seems excited because of the upcoming elections,” Pawar remarked.

For the past few weeks, the deputy chief minister has been targeting his political mentor and uncle Sharad Pawar and other leaders of his faction. On Sunday, he said he split the NCP at the age of 60 unlike his uncle who broke away from the Congress and formed the Progressive Democratic Front in alliance with the Janata Party and the Peasants and Workers Party when he was merely 38.

“I took a stand at the age of 60 but some people (Sharad Pawar) did it at the age of 38. They put Vasantdada Patil in the grey,” said Ajit Pawar. The alliance led by Sharad Pawar toppled the Congress government led by Vasantdada Patil in 1978, following which he became the chief minister.

Prior to this, Ajit Pawar had declared that his faction would field candidates from Baramati, Shirur, Satara, and Raigad seats in the next general elections.