Sharad Pawar
'There are no permanent friends and foes in politics'. Come elections and this saying is proved right by politicians in plenty. Sharad Pawar is one of them this time around.
There are no permanent friends and foes in politics. Come elections and this saying is proved right by politicians in plenty. Sharad Pawar is one of them this time around.
Once a bitter opponent of Sonia Gandhi for her foreign origin, the issue which led him to part ways with Congress, Pawar has buried the hatchet out of political compulsions in Maharashtra.
Besides having been Maharashtra's chief minister thrice, Pawar has also held key portfolios like Defence in Congress governments at the Centre in his long political innings.
His ambition to make it big at national level was the reason why he quit the Congress on the eve of the last elections.
Pawar reportedly hobnobbed with both the Congress and the BJP in the run up to the elections. But after Shiv Sena's veto on his dealings with the BJP, he finally allied with Sonia. This was prompted by a realisation that in the 1999 elections, when NCP and Congress fought separately, he could win only six seats.
What goes for Pawar is his immense ability to raise resources but what goes against him is his personal inability to project himself as a national leader. NCP has failed to grow outside Maharashtra. Leaders like VC shukla in Chhattisgarh and PA Sangma in Assam have already left NCP to jump on to the saffron bandwagon.
But he is known as a tough fighter with a true Maratha spirit.