Pawar to kickstart his tour from Nashik with rally in constituency of Bhujbal who shifted loyalty to Ajit

Pawar has already declared that he will go before the people in this fight of political dominance with his nephew and several senior leaders who worked with him for years. From Mumbai, he will travel to Nashik by road, taking halts at Thane, Bhiwandi, Padgha, Shahapur, Igatpuri among others meeting party workers on his way

Mumbai: In a battle with his nephew Ajit Pawar who has revolted against his leadership and made a bid to take over the party, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar is all set to launch his statewide tour from Nashik on Saturday. Pawar will be holding his first rally in Yeola in Nashik district which is assembly constituency of NCP heavyweight Chhagan Bhujbal, who ditched him for Ajit. Pawar’s daughter and NCP working president Supriya Sule will accompany Pawar.

New Delhi, July 06 (ANI): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar addresses the media after holding the party's National Executive meeting, at his residence, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta) (Jitender Gupta)

The party believes that things would start changing once Pawar begins his tour which would be not less than two months.

Pawar has already declared that he will go before the people in this fight of political dominance with his nephew and several senior leaders who worked with him for years. From Mumbai, he will travel to Nashik by road, taking halts at Thane, Bhiwandi, Padgha, Shahapur, Igatpuri among others meeting party workers on his way.

In the first phase, the veteran leader was supposed to visit Nashik, Dhule and Jalgaon but his tour for Dhule and Jalgaon has been postponed considering a yellow alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), NCP insiders said.

After the Nashik rally, Pawar may take a break of one week in the backdrop of monsoon alerts. “We will have to consider the monsoon while planning his tours. It is not only difficult for him but also for the people and workers who want to attend his rallies,” said a senior NCP functionary, requesting anonymity.

On July 17 and 18, he would be in Bengaluru to attend the united opposition meeting.

Bhujbal was considered as a close confidante of the party patriarch, who left Congress for Pawar. He was made the first NCP Maharashtra president and was then appointed as deputy chief minister within months after the party came to power in alliance with Congress in 1999.

It was also him against whom Pawar chose to comment during his first NCP meeting after the split held on Wednesday. “He (Chhagan Bhujbal) was in jail for two years despite that I was of the view that he should get one opportunity. Going against the views of many, he was the first person to be appointed as a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray led MVA government,” the NCP chief remarked.

Bhujbal was in jail for two years over money laundering charges in a corruption case related to Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.

On Wednesday, he fiercely criticized Pawar for initiating alliance talks with BJP on several occasions and later contradicting himself.

“There was an attempt to join hands with BJP in 2017 too and later too. Why did Ajit Pawar take oath as deputy CM in 2019 (with Devendra Fadnavis)? With whom and what discussion had taken place? All this should be revealed now. Every time a discussion would take place, later the party backtracked and we had to be embarrassed always,” he said while addressing a rally called by Ajit at MET, Bandra.