Mumbai: Less than two weeks after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar expressed his intention to pass on his political legacy to daughter Supriya Sule by making her a working president and giving her the charge of Maharashtra and the party’s central election authority, nephew Ajit Pawar Wednesday demanded more responsibility in the party organisation and talked up his work, pitching for the same.
Speaking at the NCP’s foundation day celebration in Mumbai, NCP MLA Ajit Pawar said he did not want to be Opposition leader in Maharashtra anymore and asked for a post to work for the party organisation.
“I want to be relieved now and given responsibility in the organisation. Then see where I take the party. Of course, this decision lies with the senior leadership. Give me any post in the party that you feel is right. I will do justice to it,” Pawar said, speaking at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Auditorium.
The party marked its foundation day on 10 June in Delhi when senior Pawar announced that Sule, Lok Sabha MP from the Pawar turf of Baramati, and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel will be the NCP’s national working presidents. Sharad Pawar made more appointments for the party’s work at the national level. He, however, did not mention Ajit Pawar. The former Deputy CM of Maharashtra was present on dais during the announcement and congratulated Sule and Patel later.
Last month, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar had announced his decision to retire as party president and named a committee of senior leaders to decide on his successor. However, he took his decision back after protests by party workers.
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‘I run administration well’
Speaking at the Mumbai event Wednesday, Ajit Pawar said he always knew he didn’t want to work at the Centre. He recalled how he first started sitting at the party’s Baramati taluka office in 1987, and then in 1991 became an MP.
“After seeing everything there for six months I realised this is not my kind of work, I should go back to Maharashtra. Told Supriya it is her work and so she started focusing there (nationally), I started focusing here (in Maharashtra),” Ajit Pawar said.
He said he did not want to be Opposition leader in the Maharashtra assembly when the government changed last year and the Eknath Shinde-led government took charge.
He only became Opposition leader because MLAs insisted and signed on a paper, and the party leadership asked him to take up the post.
“I have worked as Opposition leader for a year. Some say I am not as aggressive. What should I do now? Hold their necks?” Ajit Pawar said.
He also spoke about how he has a record of running the administration well. “I have worked in mantralaya. I clear people’s work with a yes or no immediately,” Ajit Pawar said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Daughter, nephew & ‘saheb’ — how generations of Pawars have dominated Maharashtra politics