4 min readMumbaiJul 19, 2023 01:42 PM IST
First published on: Jul 9, 2023 at 12:16 AM IST
Reacting to his nephew Ajit Pawar’s statement that he should retire from active politics because of his age, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that he was “neither tired nor retired” and said that those who were raking up the issue of his age would pay a heavy price.
After a vertical split in NCP engineered by Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar on Saturday embarked on a statewide tour to consolidate support and rebuild the party. As part of his outreach, Pawar held a rally at Yeola, which is the Assembly seat of his former associate Chaggan Bhujbal, who has now sided with Ajit Pawar.
“Do not speak about age. It will cost you heavily. One should not indulge in personal criticism,” Pawar said while addressing the packed rally at Yeola. During the rally the NCP chief admitted that he “slipped” and failed to gauge the crisis brewing up in the party and miscalculated and sought apology from the people of Yeola.
“I miscalculated. It doesn’t happen generally. But this time it has happened and I did not realise the developments taking place in the party. I am not blaming or pointing fingers at anyone. I take the responsibility,” Pawar said.
He further said that he has not come to Yeola to criticise or praise anyone but to seek apology for miscalculation and flawed assessment. He assured that the same mistake would not happen again.
After the rally the senior politician and other NCP leaders, including daughter Supriya Sule, received a thundering reception from thousands of people and party workers lining up the roads and also in Nashik and other places they visited.
Earlier in the day while reacting on the question of his age, Pawar said, “Main na tired hun, na retired, main fire hun (Neither am I tired, nor retired). The current cabinet consists of people in the age group of 60 to 70. When I was the chief minister in 1978, there was a person in front of my eyes, his name was Morarji Desai. He was 84 when he became Prime Minister. He was more active than many of us,” Pawar said, underlining that “there is age… right but if the health is good, then age does not hinder us from doing good work”.
“Who are they to tell me to retire? I can still work,” the 83-year-old retorted.
While speaking about the way Bhujbal turned against him despite getting ministerial position in 2019 after he came out of jail, Pawar said, “Behaviour shows one’s character. I do not blame him. My assessment was flawed (about Bhujbal).”
During his press conference, Pawar also announced that he will hold rallies even outside Maharashtra.
Accepting the fact that there were discussions with the BJP, Pawar said, “In politics, we need to have dialogues with different parties. Discussion keeps happening but that does not mean we are having an alliance with them. The final decision is the real decision and that is not to join hands with the BJP.”
Pawar also hit out at the rebel NCP MLAs stating that all of them would lose the elections. He criticised the BJP saying, “There is a systematic plan of the BJP to weaken the Opposition parties in the country.”
“I do not consider anyone as an enemy in politics. There could be ideological differences between the two parties but I do not consider them as enemies.”
Sharad Pawar also hit out at the rebel NCP MLAs stating that all of them would lose the elections. He criticised the BJP saying, “There is a systematic plan of the BJP to weaken the Opposition parties in the country.” (Express Photo) 
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