BJP plays Pawar ‘googly’ with a straight bat, tells NCP to watch out for Fadnavis’ ‘bouncers’

He added, “My father-in-law Sadu Shinde was a well-known googly bowler and he took wickets of many bigwigs. I handled the cricket administration in India and the world for many years. So even if I have never played cricket, I know how and where to throw googly. Now if a wicket is given, it has to be taken.”

Since 2019, Pawar’s nephew and current Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar has been eyed with suspicion as he was believed to have been pushing for the NCP to join hands with the BJP and even became Deputy CM in the short-lived Fadnavis administration. Pawar’s latest comments imply he must have been aware of the early morning swearing-in ceremony. However, in his recent autobiography Lok Maze Sangati, Pawar claimed he was not aware of the oath ceremony.

The NCP chief’s admission that he wanted to expose the BJP and Fadnavis as “power hungry” comes at a time when the BJP has been trying to keep the veteran leader — seen by many as the lynchpin of the Opposition’s attempts to untie against the ruling BJP in Lok Sabha polls — under pressure. The BJP has also been trying to portray Uddhav Thackeray, a member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, as someone who gave up on his ideology and joined hands with the NCP and the Congress for the sake of power and Pawar’s comments push back against that narrative by targeting Fadnavis.

“The NCP chief’s comments should not be seen only as a revelation about happenings in the past. The entire BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been aggressively attacking Pawar and his family. This is the time when it was needed to respond to the BJP aggressively. He established that it is only he who can reply to the BJP without lying low. At a time when Uddhav Thackeray is dealing with his party’s internal problems, an Opposition leader needed to take on the BJP and Pawar saheb is doing exactly that,” said an NCP functionary.

Fadnavis, meanwhile, shot back on Thursday saying Pawar’s googly had damaged Ajit Pawar more than him. “I am happy that I could bring out the truth from Sharad Pawar. But even this is a half-truth. I will also throw a googly and the rest of the truth will come out. My one googly made him speak this. Pawar bowled the googly but it knocked out his nephew.”

Last week, Fadnavis took on the NCP leader following Pawar’s attack on CM Eknath Shinde. He spoke of how Pawar had rebelled in 1978 while in the Congress and formed the government by breaking out of the party. “If he (Shinde) does it, it is backstabbing. But if Pawar does it, it’s diplomacy?” Fadnavis said. Pawar responded by reminding Fadnavis that the Jana Sangh, the precursor to the BJP, was with him at the time. “He (Fadnavis) must have been in primary school then and hence knows nothing about it.”

When asked about Fadnavis’ statement that Ajit Pawar suffered humiliation because of his uncle’s turnaround, Pawar said, “Fadnavis can say anything. Is he accepting he lost his wicket?”

Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar said Pawar’s statement was anything but googly. “Pawar’s statement of holding discussions is an indication that he can go to any extent to grab power. If anyone was clean-bowled by Pawar’s statement, then it is Uddhav Thackeray. He lost his power, party, and everything. Eknath Shinde has been telling Uddhavji from the start to not trust Sharad Pawar as he was playing a double game. He was never honest with the Sena and is not honest even today.”

State BJP president BJP Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “Pawar has bowled his last googly. All we can say is they should wait. The match is not over. Hereafter, they will face Fadnavis’s googlies and bouncers.”