Countering Ajit Pawar's swipes at his uncle Sharad Pawar over his advanced age, Nationalist Congress Party MLA Jitendra Awhad on Wednesday said Pawar senior was not going to stop just because some people were asking him to do so.
Ajit Pawar, who has rebelled against his uncle, asked in his speech at his faction's meeting when would Sharad Pawar, who is 82 years old, "going to stop".
”IAS officers retire at 60. Even in politics, BJP leaders retire at 75. You can see the example of L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi,” Ajit Pawar said.
”You are 83, aren't you going to stop? Give us your blessings and we will pray that you live a long life,” Ajit Pawar said.
Awhad, who is among the MLAs in Sharad Pawar's camp, said at a press conference that an able son always encourages his father to remain active.
"But here you people are asking him to sit at home. All we want to say is, he will not sit at home," he said.
"Whatever he (Ajit) has to say against me, I will not make any comment. But my objection is to his asking Pawar to retire," Awhad, a former Maharashtra minister, further said.
Another NCP leader and Sharad Pawar loyalist Anil Deshmukh called his party chief a "lion" and said, "82 saal ka sher abhi bhi zinda hai," (82-year-old lion is still alive).
Lok Sabha member and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule also hit back at her rebel cousin Ajit Pawar, saying she would not tolerate a single word spoken against her father.
“One can criticise me or any other person, but I will not tolerate that against my father....he is more than a father for the party workers,” she said.
Sule also made a reference to the early morning swearing-in ceremony of November 2019 when Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar took oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister, only to resign days later.
“I was very emotional four-five years ago, but now I have become stronger. I thank those who made me strong. Our real fight is going to be against the BJP's way of functioning and not against any individual,” the Baramati MP said.
She is a woman who could get emotional over small painful things, but she would transform herself into (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's mother) Jijau, (Maharashtrian women rulers) Tararani or Ahilyabai for a major conflict, she said.
“We as daughters are far better than the sons who ask their father to sit at home,” she said, in apparent reference to Ajit Pawar who asked in his speech in the morning when was Sharad Pawar, who is 82 years old, "going to stop."
State NCP chief Jayant Patil, who has stayed put in Pawar senior's camp, also took a swipe at Ajit Pawar who had recently said he would like to become the state unit president.
“There is an understanding that certain internal matters of the party should not be discussed on a public forum. But it seems that nobody cares about it. Had he (Ajit) even whispered into my ear, I would have given him the post,” Patil said.
Patil also cautioned the rebel MLAs about Sharad Pawar's influence over the masses.
“You all have seen what happens when Sharad Pawar holds public rallies. The last rallies in Karad and Satara ahead of the 2019 Assembly polls made a huge impact. And you know what was his impact on the electoral outcome,” the former state minister said.
With inputs from ANI
