‘What Sharad Pawar started in 1978 has come back to him’: Raj Thackeray

MNS chief Raj Thackeray said that with the situation still unclear, he would not be surprised if it turned out later that Sharad Pawar was involved in the developments that led to Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-Shinde Sena government.

The MNS chief’s remarks came two days after Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs joined the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government on Sunday. (File/Twitter/PawarSpeaks)

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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray has said that the political developments in Maharashtra in the last few days were “disgusting” and a “terrible insult” to the voters. He also said that it was Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar who had introduced Maharashtra to the concept of a ‘political coup’ and that it has now come back to haunt him.

“What is happening currently is disgusting. If someone takes a public opinion on this, in every home of the state you will get to hear abuses. It’s a terrible insult to the voters…No one can be sure about who is in which party any more. It is an unfortunate situation in Maharashtra,” Thackeray said on Tuesday while visiting his residence in Pune’s Prabhat Road area.

The MNS chief’s remarks came two days after Ajit Pawar and eight NCP MLAs joined the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led government on Sunday.

Thackeray reiterated that things were not clear as yet about who was behind these developments and said he would not be surprised if it turned out later that the senior Pawar was part of the game. “In 1978, Pawar started this. Before that it had never happened in Maharashtra. So he started it and now it’s coming back to him,” said Thackeray. In 1978, Pawar had toppled Congressman Vasantdada Patil’s government to become chief minister of Maharashtra.

“I feel that some of the people among the rebels – Praful Patel, Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal – are not the kind of people who would follow Ajit Pawar. Hence, the actions of these three people seem suspect to me. Also, a few days ago, Ajit Pawar had said that they will put Sharad Pawar’s photos on all the hoardings. This is incomprehensible. Hence, I said that I would not be surprised if in the future, Supriya Sule becomes a Union minister,” said Thackeray.

He also denied that there were any demands from MNS workers urging the estranged Thackeray cousins to come together again.

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