Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar admitted that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s strategy of supporting Shetkari Kangar Party candidate Jayant Patil in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLC) elections had failed but lost. In a media interaction, Sharad Pawar said, “While allocating seats, we, the MVA, could not allocate votes to the Left or any other alliance partner. We decided then to accommodate them as much as possible. We, the NCP, supported Patil in the MLC elections. We thought that if the Congress and the Sena had given these candidates the two required votes, Patil would have won, but that did not happen. Our strategy had failed. Otherwise Patil might have won.”
A few days ago, OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal visited Sharad Pawar at his residence and requested him to intervene in the current situation to maintain the social integrity of the state. Asked about it, Sharad Pawar said, “I was unwell but Bhujbal came to my residence. We spoke for 30 minutes. Bhujbal requested me to take the initiative to maintain the social fabric of Maharashtra and maintain peace. I told him that the ruling party should do so. How can we expect that from the opposition party which is not in power?”
Asked why the NCP (SP) absented the meeting convened by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss the issue of reservation for Marathas and OBCs, Sharad Pawar said, “There are two reasons why our party absented the meeting. Firstly, the Prime Minister and Manoj Jarange met and discussed it. Secondly, ministers met OBC leaders and made several promises. We are not aware of the dialogue between them and the agitators. How can we participate before knowing the agenda set by the ruling party? The agenda has not been put before the people or the Opposition, so we have decided not to participate until we know the agenda set by the ruling party on this issue.”
Reacting to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray for blaming him for the discord between Marathas and OBCs, Sharad Pawar said, “It is not new for Raj Thackeray to make such allegations. He makes such statements every time he wakes up from his sleep.”
