The swearing-in ceremony of Ajit Pawar as Maharashtra deputy chief minister. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
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A day after he was seen at the swearing-in ceremony of Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs, party MP Amol Kolhe, who represents Shirur constituency in Pune district, tweeted an old video in which he vows to follow Sharad Pawar, in letter and spirit. With Kolhe seemingly switching over to the Sharad Pawar camp, the NCP chief’s camp is now claiming that it has the support of six MPs, three each of Lok Sabha and three of Rajya Sabha.
“Pawar saheb sangal te toran, Pawar saheb sangal te dhoran…” Kolhe tweeted in Marathi, which roughly translates as whatever Sharad Pawar says is the final word for him.
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On Sunday, Kolhe was seen at the swearing-in ceremony of Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. When television channel reporters asked him as to whether he supported NCP joining BJP, Kolhe had refused to comment. Despite repeated attempts, Kolhe was not available for comment today.
At a press conference in Satara today, Sharad Pawar wasted no time in stating that he had “no doubt” in mind about Kolhe not leaving him. NCP leader Jeetendra Awhad, who is part of the Sharad Pawar camp, too welcomed Kolhe back. “First pawn is back..,” Awhad tweeted.
The other MP Supriya Sule, daughter of the NCP chief who presents Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, has been by her father’s side and has now taken charge of all his future party events, meetings and rallies, party sources said.
Shrinivas Patil, who was elected as MP from Satara Lok Sabha constituency, is known for his close friendship with Sharad Pawar. When Pawar reached Karad to address his first meeting with the people, the stage was already readied by Patil. Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan, who doesn’t see eye to eye with Sharad Pawar, was also present when the NCP chief came to Karad to seek blessings of his mentor, Yeshwantrao Chavan.
NCP State spokesperson Mahesh Tapase claimed that Sharad Pawar camp has the support of three MPs each of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. “We have four Rajya Sabha MPs, including our party chief Sharad Pawar. And four Lok Sabha MPs. Of the total eight MPs, six are with us and two are with them,” he said.
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Tapase said Sunil Tatkare, the Raigad Lok Sabha MP, was in the Ajit Pawar camp. “But Supriya Sule, Shrinivas Patil and Amol Kolhe, the three other Lok Sabha MPs, are with us. Similarly, Pawar saheb is himself a Rajya Sabha MP. Vandana Chavan and Fauzia Khan, the other Rajya Sabha MPs, are also with us. Only Praful Patel, the Rajya Sabha MP, is with the Ajit Pawar camp,” he said.
When contacted, Vandana Chavan said she was a Sharad Pawar loyalist and would remain so. “No, I am not leaving our party chief Sharad Pawar who has been largely instrumental in NCP becoming a force to reckon with. How can I desert him ? I have always been a party loyalist and therefore would remain a loyalist all the time,” Chavan told this paper. Chavan’s Rajya Sabha term ends in April 2024 and she is considered a strong contender for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.
Chavan said she has not received any call from the Ajit Pawar camp or the leader himself. “Even if he calls, I am not going. I will be with my party chief Sharad Pawar. I can’t go with a party like BJP which believes in dividing and ruling people. My party chief will also never join hands with the BJP. I am cent per cent sure about that,” she said.
Asked about Pune city unit’s stand, Chavan said,”Majority of city leaders are with Sharad Pawar. Those who are close to Ajit Pawar will go with him because they do not understand the ramification of joining hands with BJP. I am sure they will regret later,” she said.
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NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade, a close associate of Sharad Pawar for 50 years, said,”I am hurt by the development that has taken place in the party. We never thought we would have to face this situation. But at a time like this we all are with Sharad Pawar. Most of the former Pune city presidents were today present when Pawar saheb left for Karad. Some of them accompanied him to Karad where a huge gathering had turned up. Every one present cheered our party chief as he addressed them. We are all confident that Pawar saheb will infuse new energy in the party,” he said.
State NCP chief Jayant Patil’s statement that the party will wait till July 5 to decide further course of action against those who joined hands with BJP has been welcomed by NCP leaders. “There are several leaders, district and city presidents, different office-bearers, who have been calling up party chief and want to stand by him,” said Chavan.
Nilesh Lanke and Sangram Patil, both NCP MLAs from Ahmednagar who were present at the swearing in ceremony on Sunday, today said they were party loyalists and hoped that in coming days the matter will be resolved and the party will remain firmly united like in the past.
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.
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