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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Pawar has not proposed Pravin Gaikwad for Pune seat, says NCP
The clarification by the NCP comes amidst recent meetings between party chief Sharad Pawar and former Sambhaji Brigade president Pravin Gaikwad and the intense speculation that Pawar is strongly supporting Gaikwad’s candidature for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has clarified that party president Sharad Pawar has not recommended former Sambhaji Brigade president Pravin Gaikwad to the Congress for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.
This clarification comes amidst recent meetings between Pawar and Gaikwad and intense speculation that Pawar is strongly supporting Gaikwad’s candidature for the Pune seat.
The 48-year-old Gaikwad was one of the Sambhaji Brigade members who owned up responsibility for vandalising the world renowned Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in 2004 to protest against the support it had provided to American author James Laine for his controversial book, ‘Shivaji: A Hindu king in Islamic India’.
Gaikwad had also led protests opposing Maharashtra Bhushan award to noted scholar on Shivaji, Babasaheb Purandare, a Brahmin, and was instrumental in removing the statue of Dadoji Konddeo from Lal Mahal, a stand seen against Brahmins.
NCP spokesman Ankush Kakade said, “Sharad Pawar has clarified that he has not suggested any name to the Congress leaders for Pune Lok Sabha seat. The Congress Party will take a call on their candidate for the Pune seat and the NCP will support the candidate chosen by them.”
Kakade said that recently Pawar had offered this clarification to senior Congressman from the city, Ulhas Pawar.
“If someone is claiming that Pawar has suggested any name to the Congress for the Pune seat, then it is wrong,” Kakade said.
Congress leaders in the city have been upset over the speculation that Pawar has been strongly recommending former Sambhaji Brigade president. Gaikwad, who holds a diploma in civil engineering, is known to be close to Pawar. It was in January, 2017 that he left the Sambhaji Brigade, known for its militant agitations, and joined the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP). The Lok Sabha ticket aspirant said that Pawar had suggested that the Pune Lok Sabha seat should go to a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj.
“Pune’s seat is with the Congress, but NCP has sizeable votes in the city. I believe in progressive ideology. I have always voted for the Congress. In the backdrop of the Maratha Morcha, it would help if the Congress accepts me as a candidate as I am from the same ideology,”Gaikwad said.
