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This is an archive article published on March 7, 2024

Why Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is angry with actor Amol Kolhe

Amol Kolhe, a sitting MP and the star campaigner of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, says Ajit Pawar is persuading him to join NCP.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar Actor Amol KolheKolhe has alleged that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been desperately persuading the actor-turned politician to join his party (File Photo)

Amol Kolhe, who is known for his roles as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in films and television serials, has alleged that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been desperately persuading the actor-turned politician to join his party, the NCP.

”Ajit Pawar had sent messages through a number of leaders to meet him and join the party,” Kolhe, the star campaigner of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, told The Indian Express.

However, Kolhe who will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections again from Shrirur refused to give the name of the leaders who came with the messages from Ajit Pawar as “it doesn’t look good to do so”.

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Since Kolhe has refused to toe his line, Ajit Pawar is trying to belittle the actor, his associates alleged.

The actor said he also secretly met Ajit Pawar. ”This is because Ajit Pawar wanted a secret meeting…I must have met him three times,” said Kolhe.

On all occasions, Kolhe reportedly told Ajit Pawar that he would not leave Sharad Pawar and his party. ”I am with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and will remain with it,” he reiterated his stand to Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

Kolhe, adamant stand, has not gone down well with Ajit Pawar who has vowed to defeat the actor in the Lok Sabha elections. Two days ago, Ajit Pawar, taking a jibe at Kolhe, said political parties are forced to field celebrities if they find opposing candidates invincible.

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Kolhe said despite being a film, TV personality, his Parliamentary work was better than Sunil Tatkare, who is the state unit president of Ajit Pawar-led NCP. ”I have been awarded the Sansad Ratna award thrice. It speaks about my parliamentary achievement,” he said.

Kolhe’s Hindi speeches articulating his political views have gone viral. He is stated to be among the few MPs from Maharashtra whose speeches are keenly heard inside and outside Parliament. Acclaimed for his dialogue delivery, Kolhe is comfortable in both English and Marathi.

In the 2019 elections, Kolhe had defeated three-time sitting MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil. This time, though the Mahayuti is unable to decide its candidate for the Shrirur seat, Adhalrao-Patil has already made the claim and has begun campaigning. He belongs to the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. However, Ajit Pawar’s NCP is also demanding the Shirur seat. It has candidates like Pradeep Kand and Vilas Lande.

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


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