Praful Patel terms Supriya Sule ‘fulcrum’ of Sharad Pawar’s actions
Praful Patel terms Supriya Sule ‘fulcrum’ of Sharad Pawar’s actions
No doubt, Praful Patel, was a trusted aide of Sharad Pawar, but, has now shifted allegiance to Ajit Pawar. He acknowledges that only when you are in power can the works of party supporters, members, and the MLAs be fulfilled.
While addressing the media, he asserted that there are two main things that led to this decision
One, Sharad Pawar, in the past was himself not been shy of allying with the BJP… two, his daughter has emerged as the fulcrum of all his actions, and he has foisted his decision on everyone.
Hours after publication of the report, Patel tweeted, that he completely denys any such conversation concerning Supriya Sule and no such Interview has been given by him.
The report aptly quotes the remarks made by Patel in a 26-minute conversation on Friday morning.
Amidst his media address when he was asked how much and ACB cases against key leaders including Ajit Pawar, Hasan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare weigh in his and Ajit Pawar’s mind, Patel without mincing words said that Agencies have found nothing against him and ED is the last reason… these ED cases do not concern the party workers… they only expect their work to be done, and that can happen when you are in power.
Asked if the tie-up was also an insurance against action by agencies, Patel shot up that even Sharad Pawar “flirted” more than once with the BJP in the past adding that in 2014, he offered outside support to BJP… even in 2019, when Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister, it was with Sharad Pawar’s full knowledge.
Sharad Pawar had himself said he was talking to the BJP then… again in 2022, when Eknath Shinde led many Shiv Sena MLAs to Surat and Guwahati, Sharad Pawar had asked
Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar to see if we can ally with the BJP. But then it was too late, Shinde’s tie-up with BJP was done.
On the ‘unaccounted for’ NCP MLAs, When it was pointed out to him that just a few weeks ago, he was with Sharad Pawar at the Opposition meeting in Patna, Patel again shot back that the picture in Patna was not inspiring. The parties in the Opposition keep on saying they will take on Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Who and how will the Opposition take on Modi, there is no plan, they do not inspire any confidence.
Arguing, Patel elaborated that in a bid to regain power that the party workers and supporters were confused with Sharad Pawar’s stance. Patel disagreed that Ajit Pawar’s NCP had made an ideological compromise.
He further added that Sharad Pawar flirted with BJP at least thrice since 2014, and in 2019 after elections, he decided to ally with Shiv Sena. He could have remained as a principled Opposition, but he preferred to ally with Congress and Shiv Sena.
When asked about NCP’s future was which was at stake, Patel said that NCP once shared power equally with the Congress when their coalition was in power; then it allied with Shiv Sena too, but at 82, when Sharad Pawar chose to ignore Ajit Pawar, who is very popular in the party, in favour of his daughter, it became very confusing. As Ajit Pawar said after being sworn in as Deputy CM, he was being villainised for no fault of his own.
News input KV Raman
