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Journalism of Courage
THE families of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar, who traditionally celebrate ‘Diwali Padwa’ together at the Govindbaug residence of ‘Pawar saheb’ in Baramati city, will keep distance from each other this time on Saturday, celebrating the festival of lights at their respective homes.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha, daugther Supriya Sule and grandson Rohit Pawar, among other family members, will celebrate Diwali Padwa at their Govindbaug residence on Baramati-Malegaon road in Baramati city.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar and his family, including his mother, wife and two sons will celebrate Diwali Padwa at their Katewadi residence in Sahyog Society, which is about 10 km from the Govindbaug residence of Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Pawar’s elder brother Sriniwas Pawar is expected to join the celebrations at Sharad Pawar’s home. Sriniwas’ son Yugendra Pawar is contesting from the Baramati Assembly seat from the NCP (SP), challenging Ajit Pawar on his home turf.
At the Diwali celebrations, the Pawars meet and greet people from Baramati and beyond, who come in big numbers. Their families then partake food prepared for the special occasion. The celebrations continue for two three days.
Most of the Pawar family members have aligned themselves with Sharad Pawar as they feel Ajit Pawar has not done the right thing by “betraying” Sharad Pawar. They are also not happy that Ajit Pawar strayed from the path of secularism by joining hands with a party like the BJP.
“The tradition of celebrating ‘Diwali Padwa’ by the Pawar family is quite old. I remember when I was in school, it used to happen even then. I think the tradition is more than 40 years old,” Imtiaz Shaikh, former NCP city president, said.
Last year, Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar had celebrated the occasion at the former’s Govindbaug residence, although the latter had joined hands with the BJP and Shiv Sena to form the Mahayuti Government. However, both leaders had met people separately. “This is the first time both the families are celebrating ‘Diwali Padwa’ at their respective homes,” Shaikh said.
Meanwhile, speaking about the celebrations, NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said, “It is a special occasion for us. We will celebrate it together. I don’t know about the other Diwali Padwa (the one at Ajit Pawar’s residence).”
Ajit Pawar, on his part, said, “Our ‘Diwali Padwa’ celebrations will take place at my Katewadi residence. Some of our leaders like Sunil Tatkare and Dhananjay Munde want to join in the celebrations.”
For good measure, he added, “The Mahayuti government will return to power.”
