Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday said the Congress had back-stabbed Sharad Pawar and not the other way round, two days after Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete accused the veteran politician of backstabbing Congress and forming the NCP in 1999.
Popularly known as 'Ajit Dada', he was known to say things as they were, without couching it in any soft padding.
"Ajit's brother Shriniwas was asked to maintain dialogue with him....My wife Pratibha and Ajit share a strong bond. Pratibha never gets into political developments, but Ajit's case was related to the family," Pawar said in his book.
'I have tested Covid positive but there is no cause for concern. I am following the treatment suggested by my doctor,' the 81-year-old former Union minister tweeted.
Thousands of supporters gathered to pay their last respects, chanting slogans in his memory. The large turnout and emotional farewell highlighted Ajit Pawar's strong grassroots connect and his significant influence in Maharashtra politics.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed on Wednesday that Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar was willing to form an alliance with the BJP in 2019, but with a rider that Devendra Fadnavis should not be made chief minister.
There are many life lessons to be learnt from the way Sharad Pawar handled the Maharashtra political crisis.
The development comes amid a close aide of Pawar saying 36 out of 53 NCP MLAs have extended support to the new deputy CM and the numbers could go to 46 in a few days time.
A total of 161.30 acres of land, plant, machinery and building of the Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (Kannad SSK) located in Kannad village of Aurangabad district has been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said in a statement.
Surrounded by party workers, including 32 of Nationalist Congress Party's 53 MLAs, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday reminded his 83-year-old uncle Sharad Pawar that it was time for him to retire.
Why has Sharad Pawar offered to quit the UPA government? Dilliwalla will be in conversation with Rediff.com's Abhishek Mande on Friday, June 20, 2012 at 2pm IST to provide some answers.
Pawar was addressing an election campaign rally in Pimpri-Chinchwad and announced the development.
"Who are they to tell me to retire? I can still work," Pawar said in an interview
The talks about the reunification had already started when Ajit Pawar was alive. In fact, the two parties even contested the civic polls in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad together.
Earlier attempts by the state governments to introduce the reservation for Marathas have been struck down by courts.
These MLAs were present when BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister at Raj Bhavan. Both the MLAs said they were with the Nationalist Congress Party and expressed solidarity with its president.
Pawar said, "I will meet PM Narendra Modi on July 18. During the meeting, I will take up various issues related to farmers with him. (NCP leader) Praful Patel and I will attend the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting."
Addressing a press conference in Pune, Pawar also responded to a query on Thursday's meeting between industrialist Gautam Adani and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying the two know each other and there is nothing wrong if two such persons meet.
"The committee has unanimously passed a resolution. It unanimously rejects his decision to step down and urges him to continue as party president," Patel said after a meeting of the committee.
'We know each other for quite some time.' 'He could provide stability to the country for five years.' 'But he could not provide confidence to the countrymen that he is our leader.'
As the tussle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party hotted up after its vertical split, Sharad Pawar on Thursday declared he was the president of the party and hit back at nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's retirement jibe, saying he will work more effectively "whether 82 or 92."
Pawar said he has all the respect for the OBC community, but he does not want to hide the caste he was born in.
A Pune court has granted bail to NCP (SP) office-bearer Mahadev Balgude, ruling that criticism of the government or chief minister does not constitute "waging war" against the nation. The court emphasised every citizen's right to comment on and criticise government actions, noting that the charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 152 were debatable.
The NCP and NCP (SP), led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar respectively, have formed an alliance for the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation elections. This development follows a similar alliance for the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections and aims to consolidate their position in the region.
From enjoying beer sessions with Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray on the terrace of his Matoshree residence to going on vacations with Nationalist Conress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his family, the late thespian Dilip Kumar enjoyed warm relations with leaders belonging to different political hues, even though the ties strained later.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday searched premises of Baramati Agro, a company owned by MLA Rohit Pawar, grand nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and linked entities as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, official sources said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also said "Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning."
He also said the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress is just an 'adjustment'.
Ajit Pawar was earlier sworn in as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government, while eight others, including Walse Patil and Bhujbal, were made ministers, the developments coming after a vertical split in the NCP.
Despite forging an alliance with the faction led by his uncle, Nationalist Congress Party chief and Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday failed to protect the party's traditional bastions of Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, as the Bharatiya Janata Party decimated both the NCPs in the municipal corporation elections.
Pawar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, pictures of him and Adani cutting a ribbon of the factory.
Ajit Pawar on Sunday announced the alliance between the factions for the Pimpri Chinchwad civic polls.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar was admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai on Monday after he felt uneasy, a party functionary said.
Springing a surprise, Pawar on Tuesday said he was stepping down as the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party
Praful Patel did not disclose the reason for the sudden move.
Blaming Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for the unprecedented rise in price of food and other essential commodities, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday demanded his immediate removal from the post.
'I don't know if she is doing it willingly or not, but she is respecting the sentiments of the party.'
Malik said that there has been no such talk in the party or with other parties.
Pawar alleged that attempts are being made to disturb the social unity in Maharashtra and communal ideology is being promoted in the state.
Pawar, 80, had undergone an emergency endoscopy for the removal of a stone from his bile duct at the Breach Candy hospital on March 30, a doctor had said.
