Refuting claims made by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Ajit Pawar-led rebel faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the rival Sharad Pawar faction NCP MP Supriya Sule on October 12 categorically said that her 82-year-old father had been “in the dark” about his nephew’s moves to ally with the BJP in both 2019, and in July this year.
She further disclosed that the octogenarian Mr. Sharad Pawar had had no intention of stepping down as NCP president in May this year, but had been compelled to give his resignation after the NCP rebels under Mr. Ajit Pawar had been intent on allying with the BJP. The senior Mr. Pawar had later taken back his resignation on May 5.
Ms. Sule, speaking in Pune, was responding to rebel NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s statements. She said it was now clear by Mr. Bhujbal’s own account that Mr. Sharad Pawar had not been privy to either the early morning swearing-in of November 2019, when Mr. Ajit Pawar had attempted to form a short-lived government with Devendra Fadnavis’ BJP, or when he suddenly took oath as Deputy Chief Minister in July this year, finally breaking away from his uncle.
‘Kept in the dark’
“Mr. Bhujbal, in his latest remarks, has himself admitted that both swearing-ins were done by keeping Sharad Pawar in the dark. It is clear that Pawar saaheb was not aware of both these incidents,” she said. “Mr. Sharad Pawar never wanted to give his resignation [as NCP president]. He was, in reality, very hurt at their [the rebels] insistence of allying with the BJP. You may think it all a drama, but it was stark reality for us,” she said.
Ms. Sule, who is Mr. Sharad Pawar’s daughter and a three-term MP from Baramati, added that her father had never had any interest in joining the BJP. Instead, he had always hewed close to the Congress’ ideology and that of his mentor, Maharashtra’s first CM Y.B. Chavan, she said.
“For 60 years of his political life, Mr. Pawar has never left the Congress’ ideology. He had even told the rebel leaders and Mr. Bhujbal that they could go [to the BJP] if they so wanted, but that he would never leave his ideology,” Ms. Sule said, who is the NCP’s working president.
BJP alliance ‘unacceptable’
“Had I been the NCP national president, the first decision that would have been imposed on me [by the rebels] was to ally with the BJP. I could not have lived had I compromised with my father’s and Y.B. Chavan’s ideology. Hence, I refused to be the NCP president,” she said.
Speaking in Akola, Mr. Sharad Pawar backed his daughter’s statement, and claimed that it had been Mr. Bhujbal’s proposal that Ms. Sule be the next NCP president, after he had resigned on May 2.
“However, she had refused because the next step that would have followed [alliance with the BJP] was unacceptable to us,” the senior Mr. Pawar said.
‘Double-faced behaviour’
Meanwhile, Ms. Sule flayed the BJP and the NCP’s rebel faction for their Janus-faced or hypocritical behaviour after the NCP split in July.
“On the one hand, the NCP was dubbed ‘Nationally Corrupt Party’ by the BJP since 2014. Yet, they claim to have begun back-channel negotiations with us. If we [the NCP] were indeed corrupt, then how did the BJP sit with us for negotiations? Either they have been consistently lying and if so, they must apologize for all the allegations hurled against us till date...” she said.
Ms. Sule was alluding to Mr. Fadnavis’ repeated claims that Mr. Sharad Pawar himself had reportedly held parleys with the BJP in 2017 and 2019 and that the NCP patriarch had allegedly expressed his willingness at the time to ally with the saffron party.
