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In Pune, Sharad Pawar mum on Ajit Pawar, Uddhav Sena confident he won’t drift to BJP

The speculation about Ajit Pawar drifting towards BJP again, like he did in 2019, was triggered following reports that ED has not named him in its chargesheet in a money laundering case related to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd.

Sharad Pawar, Ajit PawarThe NCP chief, who was in Pune Thursday, refused to react when reporters sought to know his views about speculation doing the rounds that Ajit Pawar would once again drift towards BJP. (Express file photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
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Even as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar Thursday refused to comment on speculation that party leader and nephew Ajit Pawar would once again join hands with BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT) expressed confidence that he would remain with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and play a crucial role in all upcoming elections.

The NCP chief, who was in Pune Thursday, refused to react when reporters sought to know his views about speculation doing the rounds that Ajit Pawar would once again drift towards BJP.

On the other hand, the Shiv Sena (UBT) was confident in ruling out such a possibility. “We have heard that Ajit Pawar has been complaining to Sharad Pawar that BJP was troubling him by pursuing cases against him…We have heard that Ajit Pawar is restless and anxious…He may be feeling uneasy because of legal hassles but we are fully confident that he would never leave MVA. He is the strongest pillar of MVA and would lead all our campaigns along with Uddhav Thackeray and Congress leaders,” Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express.

“We don’t think Ajitdada will take such a step though BJP is making all attempts to break the MVA, which it fears would win all coming elections. Though BJP will indulge in all kinds of games, it will not be able to succeed. The MVA is firmly united and Ajit Pawar will stay put with us,” Raut added.

The speculation about Ajit Pawar drifting towards BJP again – like he did in 2019 – was triggered following reports that the Enforcement Directorate has not named him in its chargesheet in the money laundering case related to Jarandeshwar Sugar Mills Pvt Ltd.

Subsequently, on Wednesday, social activist Anjali Damania tweeted, “NCP leader and opposition leader Ajit Pawar would be joining hands with BJP. And that too very soon.” In response, NCP MP Supriya Sule tweeted, “Now it’s sunny…after 15 minutes whether it will rain, I can’t say.”

Ajit Pawar himself has denied that he has been given a clean chit by the ED. “The investigation is underway. I have not been given a clean chit,” he had told reporters but refused to comment about the speculation.

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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