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This is an archive article published on March 23, 2022

Junior league: Parth Pawar makes another play

For someone whose career has been a non-starter since his loss to Barne from Maval in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Parth, the youngest of the Pawar clan in politics, has an uncanny knack to remain in the limelight – usually through his tweets.

Parth Pawar with supporters to celebrate his birthday and Holi at Rahatni on Thursday. (Express Photo)Parth Pawar with supporters to celebrate his birthday and Holi at Rahatni on Thursday. (Express Photo)

A recent Facebook post by Nitin Deshmukh, working president of the NCP state youth wing, triggered a verbal duel between his party and the Shiv Sena – partners in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

At the centre of this tussle was Parth Pawar, the grand-nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Deshmukh wrote that Barne, a two-term MP from Maval, should be made Rajya Sabha MP so that Parth Pawar would get an opportunity to contest from the seat and become the next MP.

For someone whose career has been a non-starter since his loss to Barne from Maval in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Parth, the youngest of the Pawar clan in politics, has an uncanny knack to remain in the limelight – usually through his tweets.

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From his stand on the Ram temple to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, his tweets, often at odds with the party stand, have served to trigger debates and speculation on the inter-party dynamics of the MVA coalition government.

Parth, who fought his debut election in 2019, was given the NCP ticket from Maval on his father Ajit Pawar’s persuasion, much to the discomfiture of Sharad Pawar, who had to pull out of the electoral fray to accommodate another person from the family.

His loss to Barne, by a massive margin of over two lakh votes, was the first time a Pawar family member had lost – and this badly.

Parth, who fought his debut election in 2019, was given the NCP ticket from Maval on his father Ajit Pawar’s persuasion, much to the discomfiture of Sharad Pawar, who had to pull out of the electoral fray to accommodate another person from the family. (Express Photo)

While Sharad Pawar has never lost a Lok Sabha election from the family pocket borough of Baramati, Ajit Pawar has never lost an Assembly election after registering his first Lok Sabha win in 1991. Parth’s aunt Supriya Sule too has been a Lok Sabha member for three consecutive terms.

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In July 2020, Parth wrote a letter to then home minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh, which he also tweeted, demanding a CBI probe into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, leaving the NCP red-faced since the MVA government had been resisting any such probe. Deshmukh promptly ruled out Parth’s demand.

A fortnight later, Sharad Pawar publicly pulled down his nephew, saying, “What my grandnephew says is not worth a dime to me… He is immature…”

Then, on August 5, 2020, Parth welcomed the bhoomi puja for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, tweeting, “Finally, Ram, who embodied the faith and culture identity of India, will be now in peace. The fight was bitter and long… It is a historic day when we will witness the reinstallation of the Hindu faith. Ram Lalla being given his due in Ayodhya in modern India also reminds us of Ramrajya. During Ramrajya, Ram was worshipped because every living being, let alone humans, was treated with dignity..”

His statement came a few days after Sharad Pawar had taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP over the Ram temple, saying, “Eradication of Covid-19 is the priority of the Maharashtra government, but some people think constructing a temple will help in its mitigation.”

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When Ajit Pawar staged a coup of sorts in 2019 by forming the government with the BJP and taking oath as the Deputy CM, Parth was constantly by his side. (Express Photo)

Many believed Parth couldn’t have made the evidently pro-BJP statement without the backing of his father and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who has been under the scanner of several central investigation agencies.

“There is no fire without smoke. The political sagacity suddenly shown by Parth has something to do with his father’s proximity to the BJP,” a Congress leader had told The Indian Express then.

Reacting to Parth’s tweet, Ajit Pawar had said, “Every time there is a tweet (from Parth), questions are thrown at me but that is not my only business. I have several other responsibilities in the state. Everyone is free to think what they want and tweet on any subject.”

When Ajit Pawar staged a coup of sorts in 2019 by forming the government with the BJP and taking oath as the Deputy CM, Parth was constantly by his side.

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These days, Parth has been spending most of his time in Maval Lok Sabha and is looking after Pimpri-Chinchwad, where the NCP ruled for 15 years until its ouster by the BJP in the 2017 elections.

During the last Lok Sabha elections, as Parth fumbled while addressing his first rally in the presence of Sharad Pawar and other political leaders in Maval, critics pointed to how the Pawar clan is known to “stand up and deliver”. Parth had then hit back, saying, “I am learning the ropes.. I got into politics a month ago. Give me a year, I will be a pro.”

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

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