Sharad Pawar says Patole non-entity, BJP says Congress insulted inside and outside MVA govt

At a Congress district committee meeting in Lonavala on Saturday, MPCC chief Nana Patole had said he would remain firm on his contention that Congress should fight ensuing elections on its own strength.

The person claimed to be Sharad Pawar and said he was calling from Silver Oak, the south Mumbai-based bungalow, from where Pawar operates, an official said. (File Photo)

A day after Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Nana Patole indirectly accused NCP and Shiv Sena of “backstabbing” Congress, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said Patole was “a small leader whose comments do not warrant a response”. On the other, BJP called Pawar’s comments an insult to Patole and said they highlight the “plight of Congress in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government”.

Asked about Patole’s allegations, Pawar, who was in his hometown of Baramati, said, “I don’t want to get into this duel…They are small people, why should I comment on them? If Congress president Sonia Gandhi had said something, then I would have commented on it.”

At a Congress district committee meeting in Lonavala on Saturday, Patole had said he would remain firm on his contention that Congress should fight ensuing elections on its own strength. “Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray told Sena workers and leaders to prepare for polls on their own strength. If I say that, then it becomes a problem, if they say it, then it is okay,” Patole said.

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Patole had also asked the Congress rank and file to convert their hardships into strength. He was responding to complaints from Congress workers that District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar was not helping them with their work. “If some people are backstabbing while working together, stay calm and convert that pain into strength,” he had said.

Patole had also said his phone was being tapped. “The system is not allowing me to live peacefully. My phone is being tapped. Whereever I go, whatever I speak, a report is sent to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister. Some people seem to dislike that Congress was growing in strength,” he said.

State BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhaye said, “Pawar’s comment is an insult to Patole…Congress’ own ally is saying that Patole’s statement was not worth commenting upon. Despite his phone being tapped, why is Patole keeping quiet? The plight of Congress inside the MVA government and outside is seen to be believed.”

Manoj Dattatrye More

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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