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Journalism of Courage
State Cooperation Minister Dilip Walse-Patil, a former close aide of Sharad Pawar, on Monday apologised for his remarks that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president “could not single-handedly bring the party to power in Maharashtra”, and clarified that “his words were misconstrued”.
“I feel that the media has gotten it wrong. I never spoke ill about Sharad Pawar… I was expressing regret that while other regional parties achieved power on their own, the people of Maharashtra did not give that to Sharad Pawar. There is no question of demeaning Pawar saheb or questioning his ability,” said Walse-Patil on Monday after being strongly criticised for his comment. He also said that he will always respect Sharad Pawar, who will remain his leader even in the future.
“Despite being their tallest leader, the people of Maharashtra did not stand with him (Sharad Pawar) with full support. I expressed my disappointment over that. This is not the first time that I spoke about it… (have spoken) in the past as well, including at party meetings. It is impossible that I would utter a wrong word or would criticise Pawar saheb. Still, I express my apology for the misunderstanding,” he said.
While addressing party workers at Manchar in his Assembly constituency Ambegaon in Pune, Walse-Patil had said on Sunday, “…But on the other hand, the people of Maharashtra never gave him (Sharad Pawar) power on his own or allowed him to single-handedly form the government. There is Mamata Banerjee, there is Mayawati. There are many regional parties which are going forward, and despite having a tall leader, they are only getting 60-70 seats in the Assembly. And hence, we took the decision (to form an alliance)…”
Within hours of making the statement, Walse-Patil was criticised by all quarters, with Sharad Pawar loyalist Jitendra Awhad calling him an “ungrateful” person. “I saw the video, and felt bad… Once known as saheb’s most trusted and a clever man, (he has) turned out to be an ungrateful soul. I wonder how saheb could not guess this quality of his,” said Awhad.
NCP MLA and Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar also said that it was “people like Walse-Patil who were around Sharad Pawar during most of his political career”. “Had those people worked harder and better, (Sharad) Pawar would have certainly gained power single-handedly,” he said.
Walse-Patil — who is now part of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction that joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — was known as one of Sharad Pawar’s closest aides, and had started his political career as his personal assistant in the 1980s.
