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Journalism of Courage
After all the verbal bashing he received from Vijay Shivtare, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will on Thursday attend a farmers’ rally to be held by the Shiv Sena leader in the Saswad area of the Pune district.
Shivtare has publicly said he wants to contest the Baramati Lok Sabha seat from where Ajit Pawar is planning to field his wife Sunetra Pawar against his now estranged cousin Supriya Sule. Shivtare is from the Purandar Assembly seat, one of the six in the Baramati constituency.
Speaking to reporters after paying tributes to Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his birth anniversary at Bhide Wada, Ajit Pawar confirmed he will attend the rally organised by Shivtare.
“During our discussions where Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were also present, Vijay Shivtare demanded that issues in his Assembly constituency be addressed. He had told us that he would organise a rally in Saswad. I had promised to attend the rally,” said Pawar.
Ajit Pawar was referring to the discussions they had with Shivtare following his decision to revolt in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat. Shivtare had also attacked Ajit Pawar, alleging that he had tried to wreck his political career.
When he was asked about the phone calls made to Vijay Shivtare urging him to not revolt, Ajit Pawar lost his cool and said, “Don’t think I am a fool. I have said what I wanted to… I will speak as much as the Constitution permits me to do”.
Shivtare had decided not only to contest as a rebel but had also vowed to defeat Sunetra Pawar to avenge his alleged humiliation by Ajit Pawar.
Speaking about the memorial to the great social reformer, Ajit Pawar said, “Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Chhagan Bhujbal and myself have decided that to build a grand memorial to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. We already have a memorial at the place but there is a space crunch…Therefore, we will acquire the nearby land and build a grand memorial”.
