NCP leader Ajit Pawar seems to have “bent over backwards” to secure son Parth Pawar’s victory from Maval parliamentary constituency, which the party has not been able to win in the past two elections. Besides holding a series of rallies to impress upon voters in the constituency, the former Maharashtra deputy chief minister reportedly has also reached out to several sitting and former corporators from the BJP-Shiv Sena in Pimpri-Chinchwad. There are 80 BJP and five Shiv Sena corporators in the industrial city and apparently most of them have received a “personal call” from Ajit Pawar urging them to “extend help” to his son, BJP leaders told The Indian Express. “(Ajit) Pawar is not known to make or take calls from all and sundry. Most of the time, his phone is switched off. If you need to get in touch with him, you have to send him a message. But these days, he is taking calls. he is a changed man,” an NCP leader from Pimpri-Chinchwad, without wishing to be named, said. BJP leader and PCMC corporator, Seema Savale, who claimed to have received a call from Ajit Pawar, said: “Most of the BJP corporators from Pimpri-Chinchwad have received calls from Ajit Pawar personally. The corporators who live in Maval constituency have been requested to help Parth, while those in Shirur have been urged to back (Amol) Kolhe.” Rejecting any possibility of backing the NCP candidates, Savale said: “Obviously not. We will be supporting our own BJP-Sena alliance candidates in both the constituencies.” BJP’s Amit Gorkhe, son of PCMC corporator Anuradha, too, claimed that the family has received a call from the NCP leader. “He requested us to help out Parth, but we told him that since we are from the BJP, we will be standing by our candidate,” Gorkhe said. Sharmila Babar, another BJP corporator, said she, too, had received such a call 10 days ago. Claiming that these “calls” only revealed the NCP leader’s “desperation”, BJP general secretary Sarang Kamtekar said Ajit Pawar was not only calling BJP corporators, but all those who were politically relevant. “He is even calling RSS workers. It is a part of their (NCP’s) political strategy. But the BJP is a cadre-based party and our workers and leaders are committed to our ideology. His calls show his desperation, but they will not make any difference,” Kamtekar said. Shiv Sena MP and the alliance candidate from Maval parliamentary seat, Shrirang Barne, said the NCP knew that it was staring at defeat in Maval. “.Otherwise, why would Pawar call up BJP-Sena corporators? I want to tell him that the BJP and Sena corporators are honest and committed. They will not fall into this trap,” he said. However, supporters of BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap, have appreciated the NCP’s move. “He (Ajit Pawar) is at least showing political courtesy, whereas the Shiv Sena MPs are not even bothered to extend such small courtesies,” a supporter of Jagtap told The Indian Express. The “disgruntled” BJP MLA has refused the join the campaigns for Barne. Rubbishing the charges of “desperation”, NCP leader Yogesh Behl, considered a right-hand man of Ajit Pawar, said: “There is nothing wrong in calling up everyone who is a voter in Maval seat. It’s just a request call and it is up to the vote to take the call or not. It is a fair part of the campaigning process.” Besides, Pawar, his wife Sunetra and younger son Jay have also pitched tents criss-crossing Maval and are trying to get in touch maximum number of voters.
