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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, SEPT 5: Chief Minister Narayan Rane took Baramati, the home town of Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit by storm on Sunday, while their supporters made a vain attempt to disrupt the well-attended public meeting of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.
As Rane called for freeing Baramati from the clutches of the uncle-nephew duo in the forthcoming simultaneous polls, a section of youths resorted to intense sloganeering in favour of Ajit Pawar and made an attempt to stall the Chief Minister’s speech.
“This is the culture promoted by Sharad Pawar and his nephew. We will not tolerate such terror tactics. Police officials on duty will take necessary action to ensure that the meeting is not disrupted. Despite the fact that he has passed uncalled-for remarks against me and Bal Thackeray, we never disrupted Pawar’s meeting. We hope his supporters will behave, or else, we will have to take legal action against them,” Rane said.
Rane said since the NationalistCongress Party had concluded that it was not in a position to wrest power from the Sena-BJP alliance, it was resorting to such `undemocratic activities’. “I know they can not stay without power. They are placed in a fish out of water situation and therefore, have become restless,” Rane said.
Though the alliance has not fielded any candidate from the Baramati Assembly constituency, it has extended support to Chandrarao Taware, Chairman of the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Factory. Till Taware’s election, the factory was indirectly controlled by Ajit Pawar. In the recent elections, Pawar’s panel was defeated by the Taware group.
Launching a blistering attack on Pawar, Rane blamed him for imposing elections on the nation. “Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was performing much better. However, when the Congress-led opposition decided to topple the government, Pawar took the lead at the instance of Sonia Gandhi. Now for the sake of power, Pawar has now ditched her too,” Rane added.
The Chief Minister hasspoken openly against Pawar in his home town for the first time. During the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the then Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had declared that he would make a `sensational disclosure’ against Pawar. However, Joshi’s announcement turned out to be a damb squib as he failed to make any specific allegation against Pawar.
Ever since Pawar joined politics, he has taken his mentors or colleagues for a ride, rane said. “First, he ditched his political guru Yashwantrao Chavan, followed by Vasantdada Patil, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi,” he remarked.
Referring to Pawar’s criticism that gangsters had taken over the administration, Rane said the law and order situation during the Congress rule from 1991 to 1995 was the worst ever as during that period, the State witnessed a record 3,500 communal riots, while during the tenure of Sena-BJP alliance, less than 20 incidents were reported.
“He is accusing us of supporting criminals, but every one knowns as to who supported thecandidature of Pappu Kalani or Hitendra Thakur and how the Sharma brothers, allegedly involved in the J J Hospital shootout case, were flown in Defence Minister’s plane. During the Congress rule, gangsters were given political patronage,” Rane said.
Rane said the time was ripe for the electorate of Baramati to dislodge Pawar and his nephew in the interest of the township and the State, since both had lost their credibility, he said.
