Facing challenge from nephew, Ajit Pawar says confident Baramatikars will keep his pride intact

The Maharashtra Republican Party on Friday announced its support to Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

Ajit Pawar

A DAY after his nephew Yugendra Pawar was fielded by Sharad Pawar-led NCP from Baramati, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he was confident Baramatikars won’t let him down and will ensure he moves around the state with his head held high after the elections.

“I’m confident Baramatikars will give such a verdict that I will continue to criss-cross Maharashtra with my head held high,” Ajit Pawar said on Friday while heading for a rally to Indapur taluka.

On NCP (SP) fielding Yugendra from Baramati, from where he has won seven times, Ajit Pawar said, “This is normal in elections. Tomorrow, even you can file nomination papers. The picture will become clearer on November 23. Baramatikars are wise…I have full faith in them.”

Stating that he has worked honestly for the people of Baramati, he said, “In Baramati, you can ask anyone. I have worked hard for them. And that is why they have ensured my victory six to seven times. Compare Baramati with other constituencies of Maharashtra, whatever was possible for me I have done for Baramati. Whenever I have contested, Baramatikars have supported me. I will try to clear my stand to them. I am confident they will give such a verdict that I will continue to move around Maharashtra with pride.”

After his nomination was announced on Thursday, Yugendra told this paper that Ajit Pawar had only built big buildings but failed to address the problems of the common man. “Whatever sustainable development Baramati witnessed was done during Sharad Pawar’s time,” he said.

Meanwhile, at a rally in Indapur for party candidate Dattatrya Bharne, Ajit Pawar took a jibe at NCP (SP) candidate Harvarshvardhan Patil, who had commented recently that he had an “invisible hand” in the victory of Supriya Sule from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency.

“I have always worked honestly for candidates contesting elections. I have never done match-fixing. If I had to oppose, I oppose upfront…,” he said.

Story continues below this ad

Ajit Pawar said Patil cannot be trusted by the people. “How can he be trusted? On one hand, he took us to his home for lunch and on the other, he supported our opponents,” he said.

Calling Patil a party-hopper, Ajit Pawar said, “The BJP had promised to make him an MLC. But he refused to listen and left the party to join Sharad Pawar’s party. He is a party-hopper, cannot be trusted.”

Maharashtra Republican Party to support Ajit Pawar

The Maharashtra Republican Party on Friday announced its support to Ajit Pawar-led NCP. The announcement was made in a joint press conference in Indapur, where NCP president Ajit Pawar and Republican Party president Sanjay Sonwane addressed the media.

Speaking at the press conference, Ajit Pawar said, “Sanjay Sonawane has been working for the betterment of the society, he identifies himself as an Ambedkarite. I assure him that NCP is inclusive, and I will allocate 10% of our seats to minorities. We are committed to work on the path of Shiv, Shahu, Phule, Ambedkar to take the state forward.”

Story continues below this ad

Maharashtra Republican Party is currently active in 23 districts of the state. Sonawane said, “We want to counter the opposition’s false narrative that the Constitution will be changed and reservation will end”. The party announced that it will support NCP candidate and sitting MLA Dattatray Bharane.

With this, NCP’s position in Indapur is further strengthened. Sonawane’s support could bring in Dalit votes for the NCP.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories