This is an archive article published on March 15, 2024
After meeting CM, Shinde Sena leader Vijay Shivtare questions Sunetra Pawar’s contribution to Baramati
Former MLA and Shinde Sena leader Vijay Shivtare has said he would like to contest the Baramati Lok Sabha seat. The NCP led by Ajit Pawar has indicated that it would like to field Sunetra Pawar from the seat
Shivtare said he was capable of winning the Baramati seat. “I will defeat both Pawars,” he said. (File/ Express Photo by Pradeep Kocharekar)
A day after meeting Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai, Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader and former MLA Vijay Shivtare on Friday questioned Sunetra Pawar’s contribution to Baramati and expressed his desire to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra is likely to be fielded from Baramati by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction.
“What is Sunetra Pawar’s contribution to the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency? Where was she all these years? She has done nothing for the constituency,” Shivtare told The Indian Express. Shivtare said he was capable of winning the Baramati seat. “I will defeat both Pawars,” he said.
Story continues below this ad
Shivtare said CM Shinde had called him to Mumbai to discuss his statement that he wanted to contest from Baramati.
“I have told the chief minister that since the Pawar versus Pawar fight will be witnessed in Baramati, Shiv Sena has a good chance of winning the seat. As per my survey, at least 48 per cent of the people are against the Pawar family in Baramati. And therefore if I contest from the seat, we have a good chance of winning it,” he said. Shinde sought two days to make a decision, Shivtare claimed.
Asked if he would contest the seat even if Shinde rejected his demand, Shivtare said, “I want to contest but wait for two days…”.
Shivtare also denied that he was building pressure on political rival Ajit Pawar and said there was no possibility of a reconciliation between them. “Last week, I went to Baramati for a Namo Rozgar event. I wanted to hand over a bouquet to Ajit Pawar but he did not respond…There is no chance of a patch-up with him,” he said.
Story continues below this ad
Shivtare alleged that he had suffered a lot due to Ajit Pawar. “When I fasted for eight days to get water for my Purandar constituency, Ajit Pawar, who was the deputy chief minister then, did nothing to address the problem. As a result, it took a toll on my health. My kidney was affected, my heart was affected…Ajit Pawar has no heart. So I wanted to contest from Baramati and prove my mettle…I have forgiven Ajit Pawar for what he did to me…but people of Baramati Lok Sabha constituency will never forgive him,” he said.
Asked if he was going soft on sitting MP Supriya Sule, Shivtare said, “No, I am against the Pawars who have done little to address the problems of the entire Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. I am fighting against them.”
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
3 min read
