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Backing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign slogan “ek hai to safe hai’, Pawar said India will be safe if it stays united.
On Yugendra Pawar, his brother’s son, who was led by Sharad Pawar-led NCP against him in the Baramati family field, Ajit said that his mother asked the senior Pawar not to contest in the family. (Image: PTI file)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s `ek hai to safe hai’ slogan, but opposed Yogi Adityanath’s refrain of `batenge to tenge’, which he said was alien to Maharashtra’s ideological heritage.
Speaking to PTI in the midst of the November 20 election campaign, he also claimed that his nephew and current rival candidate Yugendra Pawar is not interested in politics and does not even like living in Baramati.
Backing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign slogan “ek hai to safe hai’, he said India will be safe if it stays united.
“There is nothing wrong (slogan), I don’t see any problem here. If we stay together, everything will prosper,” he said.
However, he disagreed with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s ban that “divided we will be cut”.
“The talk of “batenge to tegege” is inappropriate. People in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh think differently, but that statement doesn’t work here. The use of the word has no meaning in Maharashtra, in my opinion. Maharashtra is the state of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Shivaji Maharaj. People in Maharashtra are different, and their thoughts are different. If someone abandons the ideology of Shahu, Shivaji, Phule and Ambedkar, then Maharashtra will not be spared,” added Ajit.
Regarding Yugendra Pawar, his cousin’s son, whose Sharad Pawar-led NCP is contesting against him in the Baramati family field, Ajit said his mother asked the senior Pawar not to contest in the family.
“I made (husband) Sunetra Pawar contest against Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha elections. This has hurt (Sharad Pawar) a lot, so he made Yugendra Pawar contest against me,” the NCP chief said.
“Yugendra has no interest in politics….he doesn’t like coming to Baramati. He likes to stay abroad,” Ajit Pawar said, adding, “I don’t know what happened to him.” In the Lok Sabha elections, Ajit’s cousin Supriya Sule defeated her husband Sunetra in a high-octane battle in Baramati.
“My mother told Pawar saheb that there is no competition in the Pawar family, but they put in candidates. Sharad Pawar is a great leader. I don’t want to talk about it. But despite the message from my mother, she took the decision,” the NCP chief added.
He expressed confidence that he would retain the Baramati assembly seat.
“People there know that some people are involved in the development of Baramati, but I have done the most, and Baramati knows. I have worked there, and my work speaks for itself,” said Ajit.
Regarding the recent report on the influx of illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants in Maharashtra, he said it was a “very serious observation”, and all senior leaders should sit together and take a decision on how to tackle the problem.
Asked if the NCP led by him would return to the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi if the elections gave him a broken mandate, he said no.
“No, I don’t think so now, because my aim is to win 175 seats for Mahayuti (the ruling alliance of NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena),” he said.
The Maratha factor will play an important role in the state elections, he said, admitting that many people listened to Manoj Jarange’s agitation for reservation for the Maratha community, and the effect was visible in the Lok Sabha elections.
Regarding the credit for the `Ladki Bahin Yojana’ for women, which the ruling alliance hopes will be a gamechanger in the elections, Ajit Pawar said it is a government scheme and will benefit all Mahayuti partners.
When asked for his reaction to Shiv Sena minister Tanaji Sawant’s remark a few weeks ago that he felt like throwing up while sitting next to Ajit Pawar in a cabinet meeting, the NCP leader said that was a false statement, and “I will speak to Chief Minister Eknath. That’s enough.”
Defending his party colleague Nawab Malik who is facing investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, Ajit said none of the allegations against him have been proven in court.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from the feed of syndicated news agency – PTI)
