A BJP legislator’s remarks calling Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar a “wolf” have caused unease in the ruling coalition, even though Devendra Fadnavis, the other deputy chief minister, has reprimanded the MLC. BJP MLC and Dhangar leader Gopichand Padalkar made the remarks three days ago, drawing sharp reactions from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction. The party asked the BJP to control its legislator or face protests. Taking a note of the anger, Fadnavis quickly chastised Padalkar. “Padalkar’s remarks are inappropriate. Making such remarks is wrong. The workers and leaders of all three alliance partners should respect each other and avoid making such remarks,” the senior BJP leader said Tuesday. The controversial remarks came after Padalkar wrote to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Fadnavis reiterating the Dhangars’ demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category. The Dhangar leader made the remarks when asked why he did not write to Ajit. A traditional opponent of the Pawar family, Padalkar contested the 2019 Assembly election from Baramati against Ajit, but lost by a huge margin. He has in the past made several objectionable statements against the Pawar family. On Wednesday, BJP leader and MLA Nitesh Rane came out in support of Padalkar. “If criticising Dada (Ajit Pawar) by allies is seen as his insult then how did you tolerate editorials against Dada by Sanjay Raut during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government? Who had given him blessings?” the MLA wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The Ajit faction was again quick to shoot back saying constructive criticism was welcome, but unparliamentary language was not. “We have no issues if someone is going to criticise us in parliamentary language. Nitesh Rane should understand the difference. His father Narayan Rane is the Union minister for MSMEs. If we say that he has not done any good work as a minister, it will be parliamentary criticism. But if we call him komdi chor (thief of hens), it will be unparliamentary. I hope Nitesh-ji understands this,” said Suraj Chavan, president of the Ajit faction’s youth wing.
