Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The veteran Maharashtra politician Sharad Pawar in a bid to attach some emotional values in the family contest for the Baramati seat in the coming state Assembly elections on Tuesday hinted at his possible retirement from active politics saying that he may not contest in any more elections after his current term in the Rajya Sabha ended in 18 months.
The 84-year old Mr Pawar, who set up the Nationalist Congress Party and is widely regarded as the ‘grand old man’ of Maharashtra politics – was speaking at his family stronghold of Baramati in western Maharashtra, which will see a Pawar vs Pawar contest in the November 20 Assembly election.
“I am not in power… and my tenure in the Rajya Sabha has one-and-a-half years left. (After that) I will not contest any election in the future. (I) will have to stop somewhere…” he said, thanking the voters of Baramati for making him an MP and MLA a staggering 14 times overall. Apparently his hint was that it was the last time he was seeking votes from his supporters in favour of his grandnephew Yugendra Pawar who is opposed by his nephew Ajit Pawar who ditched him last year to split the party and become the deputy chief minister.
Ajit Pawar is a five-time MLA from Baramati but, in each of his earlier wins, he had the backing of his uncle. This will be the first state poll in which he contests under his own banner and against his uncle’s candidate. The first family tussle in Baramati was seen during the Lok Sabha elections when the people had voted overwhelmingly for Sharad Pawar’s candidate – his daughter Supriya Sule rejecting Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar who was the NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction candidate.
In his comments on Baramati and the rebel nephew, Sharad Pawar seemed to play down the family vs family angle, declaring, “I have no grudge against him (Ajit Pawar) … he led you for nearly 30 years,” also pitching the message of a generational change in leadership, “but now it is time for me to prepare a young (and) dynamic leadership… which can take over for the next 30 years,” Pawar senior said, appearing to underline Yugendra Pawar’s future position.
Pawar, undefeated in his 57-year political career since first being elected as an MLA from Baramati in 1967, highlighted that he will continue to serve and work for the people. “I handled the development and progress of Baramati for 30 years and then passed on the responsibility to Ajit Pawar for 30 years. This should continue. So, we need to give responsibility for the next 30 years to youth leadership to carry forward the legacy of public service in Baramati. Thus, Yugendra needs to be elected for this purpose in the Assembly election.”
“I am not seeking your votes… you have always been magnanimous with all Pawar family members in this time…” the canny Sharad Pawar said, looking to not lose support from those who may be leaning towards his nephew, “But we have to look ahead now at the future.”
“I have contested 14 times. You (people) did not send me home even once. You elected me every time. But, I will have to stop somewhere… I will have to bring the new generation forward. I am working with this principle. This does not mean that I have left social work. But I do not want power. I will keep serving and working for the people,” Pawar added.
Speculation over Sharad Pawar’s final innings in electoral politics has been circulating for some time now, and was raked up again in January by nephew Ajit Pawar, who had fought against and forced a split of his uncle’s party, leading the rebels into an alliance with the BJP and a faction of the Shiv Sena that had earlier broken away from Uddhav Thackeray.
Back then Pawar junior hit out at Pawar senior for not sticking to a 2023 resolution to step down from the party’s top post. “Some people,” Ajit Pawar said, simply refused to retire. “People should stop after reaching a certain age… but some are not ready… even after turning 80, this person (the reference to his uncle was clear) is not ready to retire,” he declared.
Sharad Pawar offered a typically pithy reply to his nephew’s jab. “Na tired hu, na retired hu.” (I am neither tired nor retired),” he scoffed, echoing the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s remarks. “Who are they to tell me to retire? I can still work.”
In May last year – while the NCP was battling its internal crisis – Sharad Pawar announced his resignation as party boss. The announcement was unanimously rejected by top leaders. “All of us want Sharad Pawar to continue… he should respect the feelings of lakhs of us, and he should continue,” Praful Patel, who has since joined the ranks of Ajit Pawar’s NCP, had said.