Premium
This is an archive article published on February 5, 2024

Ajit Pawar is hard-hearted, selfish and ungrateful, says Sanjay Raut after ‘last poll’ jibe at Sharad Pawar

Ajit Pawar had urged voters in Baramati not to fall prey to the emotional appeals of his uncle Sharad Pawar in the Lok Sabha polls.

From left: Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and NCP leader Sharad Pawar. (File Photos)From left: Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut and NCP leader Sharad Pawar. (File Photos)

Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Monday said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is a “hard-hearted” man, a day after the rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader urged voters not to fall prey to the emotional appeals of his uncle Sharad Pawar in the Lok Sabha polls.

”We never thought Ajit Pawar would turn out to be such a hard-hearted man… His statement against his uncle Sharad Pawar is unbecoming of a leader like him,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Raut told The Indian Express.

“It is my last election… Such an emotional appeal will be made… Don’t know when it will be the last election,” Ajit Pawar said on Sunday while addressing a rally in Baramati, his hometown and a Pawar family bastion, in a veiled reference to Sharad Pawar.

Story continues below this ad

Raut said Ajit Pawar achieved name, fame and identity because of Sharad Pawar. ”Who is Ajit Pawar? What was he before coming into politics? I have seen him cycling on the roads of Baramati. He was non-entity then. He rose to fame all because Sharad Pawar, who backed him, supported him and groomed him,” said Raut.

Raut said Ajit Pawar had turned against the same person who was instrumental in his graph soaring to a new high. ”This only shows Ajit Pawar is a hard-hearted and selfish leader. He is a highly ungrateful person. He can go to any extent for his selfish ends. He switched sides because it suited his political convenience. He is not a loyal leader who deserved to be followed,” Raut said.

Ridiculing Ajit Pawar’s statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognises him, Raut said, ”Ajit Pawar said when he welcomes the prime minister in Maharashtra, Modi recognises him and smiles. We know Modi more than Ajit Pawar does. Making such a statement is only ridiculing oneself. Ajit Pawar does not know what he is talking about. He should do some introspection.”

Raut said even if Ajit Pawar fields his party’s candidate in Baramati, Supriya Sule, who has won the Baramati Lok Sabha seat for the last three times, would emerge victorious hands down.

Story continues below this ad

”Supriya Sule has worked hard for her constituency. She has nurtured and nourished Baramati Lok Sabha seat. She has been constantly at the beck and call of her voters. We are fully confident that whoever is fielded by Ajit Pawar from Baramati seat will have no chance against Supriya Sule,” he said.

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.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement