Sharad Pawar: No other PM spoke like this… they won’t cross 230-240

Sharad Pawar.

“They have angered states like Punjab and Haryana with their action against the Delhi CM, and won’t get the southern states or West Bengal or the votes of minorities and many more. I could go on… I personally think they will not cross 230-240 seats,” Pawar said.

He said what the BJP did in Chandigarh and Surat was not just wrong, but also illegal. On January 30, the BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral polls, after the returning officer declared eight votes of the AAP-Congress alliance as invalid. The Supreme Court later set aside the results and declared the AAP candidate as the winner. In Surat, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate was declared elected unopposed, after the Congress candidate’s nomination was rejected and the remaining candidates withdrew.

“This is what they are stooping to now. They have been twisting the Congress manifesto and talking about reservations and tampering with the Constitution. Where is such a thing written? They say things that are just made up,” Pawar said.

On Modi having addressed 13 rallies in Maharashtra so far, with a few more planned, Pawar said it was an indication of what he had just said. “What was the need for five-phase voting in the state? If Tamil Nadu can have voting in a single phase with 39 seats, why does Maharashtra need five phases for 48? This is only because they know they are losing ground,” he said.

With the split in the NCP, Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, is pitted against Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, in Baramati, which goes to polls in the third phase on May 7.

Asked how he was countering the new challenge, Pawar said: “I am not hands on at Baramati. I am touring all the time. I haven’t gone on the ground here. Supriya is handling her campaign on her own, with the help of other family members and her associates. This doesn’t mean I am losing any connect with the people. The connection is there, with both the older and younger generations, and that will never go away. I will only address one rally here — like I have been doing for the last so many elections — on the last day. That day, I will talk to the people of Baramati and tell them what I need to say.”

“For 20 years, I was involved with the Centre and left everything I had started to Ajit Pawar… to continue my work. I let him have a free hand, not realising it would be taken advantage of,” he said.

On Ajit Pawar having booked the ground from where Sharad Pawar has always held the last day’s rally, forcing him to look for an alternate venue, the senior Pawar gave a wry smile. “It doesn’t matter,” he shrugged.

Asked how many seats the NCP would win in Maharashtra, he said they would get “all ten, of course”. As per the seat-sharing arrangement with its partners – the Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav) – the NCP has fielded candidates from 10 seats. Asked if any seat was particularly important for him, he said, “all are important”.

Responding to a question on the perception that the Opposition alliance was fragmented, Pawar said: “They will know the truth on June 4. Just wait and watch.”