Strongly condemning the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday, while lashing out at the Narendra Modi-led BJP government’s misuse of Central agencies, predicted that Mr. Kejriwal’s arrest would benefit him politically in the coming Lok Sabha election.
Speaking in Baramati while campaigning for his daughter, Supriya Sule (the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s candidate for the crucial Lok Sabha seat), Mr. Pawar expressed confidence that the ruling BJP’s strongarm tactics would boomerang and that Delhi’s public would respond against the BJP’s abuse of power by voting handsomely for Mr. Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the general election.
“The Modi government is launching an onslaught on the democratic rights of citizens. First, Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested on vague allegations. Then, a conspiracy against the Delhi government had been in the works for many days in a bid to demoralise Mr. Kejriwal. He was served with notices several times and was issued with summons seven-eight times over an excise policy that was eventually scrapped. The Enforcement Directorate [ED] and the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI] harassed him before finally arresting him,” said the 83-year-old Mr. Pawar, whose NCP was split last year by his nephew Ajit Pawar.
The NCP patriarch expressed astonishment at the BJP’s audacity in allegedly deploying agencies to arrest Chief Ministers of non-BJP States.
‘Misuse of power’
“Today the BJP has gone to such an extent where a chief minister has been arrested by a flagrant misuse of power. I condemn the action against Mr. Kejriwal as a constituent of INDIA bloc. We will stand firm behind Mr. Kejriwal,” Mr. Pawar said, adding that he was sure the people would demonstrate their collective power in the upcoming election in the way they had demonstrated during the 1975-77 Emergency.
He further warned that the BJP would have to “pay the price” for this action.
“Arvind Kejriwal enjoys immense popularity. He became Chief Minister three times. It is the State’s prerogative to decide their policy. Mr. Kejriwal was arrested for making a policy which was later withdrawn. Delhi’s public will give a strong reaction to the arrest of their Chief Minister through the ballot box. The arrest will benefit Kejriwal politically and put in place those [the BJP] who took this wrong decision,” Mr. Pawar said.
Censuring the BJP’s extreme action against its political opponents, the NCP (SP) chief observed that the Congress’ bank accounts had been frozen and their financial resources for the election campaign badly affected.
“This shows that there is an attempt to stop the grand old party from using its resources for the elections. Such extreme actions never happened in the past,” said the NCP (SP) chief.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pawar reiterated that he would not be contesting the Lok Sabha poll, setting to rest speculations of him fighting from the Madha seat in Solapur district.
Mr. Pawar, who has remained electorally undefeated in his career of over 60 years, said that he desired the Madha seat to be contested by Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) chief Mahadev Jankar, a constituent of the NDA and the BJP’s ally in Maharashtra.
Despite being a BJP ally, the disgruntled Mr. Jankar has held furtive meetings with Mr. Pawar.
Ironically, it was Mr. Jankar, a prominent Dhangar leader, who had come closest to defeating Mr. Pawar’s daughter Ms. Sule in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Baramati.
However, given the startling shifts in political alliances in the State since 2019, Mr. Jankar now finds it expedient to ally with Mr. Pawar, with the wily Maratha strongman leaving no stone unturned to queer the pitch for the BJP in both Baramati and Madha Lok Sabha seats.
