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This is an archive article published on May 9, 2023

Sharad Pawar hits back at Saamana, says those he groomed are shining bright; ridicules Prithviraj Chavan

On Monday, Saamana Executive Editor Sanjay Raut had said that the Saamana editorial had expressed its point of view.

Sharad Pawar, Nitish KumarNationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar addressing media. (PTI, file)
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Sharad Pawar hits back at Saamana, says those he groomed are shining bright; ridicules Prithviraj Chavan
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A day after Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece, Saamana, said Sharad Pawar had failed to groom a successor who could take his party forward, the NCP chief hit back Tuesday, saying he does not care what others write about him and those he groomed have already proved their mettle.

Reacting to Monday’s editorial in Saamana, Pawar told reporters in Satara, “We don’t attach importance to what people write as to whether we have groomed a successor or not. They will write. It is their right to do so. We ignore it. We know what we are doing. We get satisfaction out of that”.

“Our party colleagues present their own views, but we don’t make those views public. It is an issue which belongs to our family. Every colleague of ours knows how our party will move forward. Our colleagues are confident about how we create new leadership,” he added.

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Citing the example of how he created a new line of leadership after the NCP’s formation in 1999, Pawar said, “When we came to power along with the Congress in 1999, we wanted to form the ministry. Among those whom we included in the ministry were Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar, R R Patil, Dilip Walse-Patil, Anil Deshmukh…Like these, there were several names who were experiencing the seat of power for the first time…Those who were included were appointed as Cabinet ministers. Maharashtra has seen that each one of them has proved his mettle. And that’s why if people write whether we have groomed a successor or not, we do not attach importance to it.”

On Monday, Saamana Executive Editor Sanjay Raut had told The Indian Express the editorial had expressed its point of view. “There was no criticism of the NCP chief in the editorial. It is just a point of view,” said Raut.

Pawar also did not spare senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan who had expressed doubts about the behaviour of the NCP and its perceived dalliance with the BJP. “Where does Prithviraj Chavan stand in Congress?” he asked.

The NCP chief was responding to the criticism made by Chavan while he was campaigning for Congress candidates ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections. “My colleagues will tell you in private about Prithviraj Chavan,” Pawar added.

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While campaigning in Nipani, Chavan had said they keep reading in newspapers and watch on television about the NCP and the BJP.

Remarking on his offer to step down as NCP president, Pawar said, “I took back my resignation after several people requested me to do so. In a democracy, you cannot ignore people’s will after a limit. After I took back my resignation, the party cadre is itching to double up their efforts. It will benefit the party”.

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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