Political flutter as NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar touches uncle Ajit Pawar’s feet

Satara (Maharashtra), Nov 25 (IANS) Political circles went aflutter after witnessing a rare family bond unfolding in Satara – Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar touching the feet of Nationalist Congress Party President Ajit A. Pawar – here on Monday. 

The sudden 'encounter' took place near the memorial of former Deputy Prime Minister, the late Y. B. Chavan at Pritisangam in Karad town where the Pawars had gone to pay homage to the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

As Rohit R. Pawar was stepping out, right in front was Ajit A. Pawar who was entering the memorial complex and both were standing opposite each other – as supporters from both sides stiffened.

Sporting his trademark dark glasses, Ajit A. Pawar, 65, stepped up, smiled and warmly shook hands with Rohit R. Pawar, plus playfully slapped him, ‘buddy-style’ on the right shoulder, easing the tensions around.

“Abhinandan… Abhinandan… Take ‘darshan… darshan…’ of your ‘kaka’ now,” said Ajit A. Pawar, grinning, in his characteristic cheerful style, exuding bonhomie after the bitterly fought election season ended on Saturday (November 23).

On his part, Rohit R. Pawar, 39, reciprocated with folded hands, smiled and moved up to him, bowed and bent down to touch his uncle’s feet, as their supporters started smiling with joy and the atmosphere eased up.

For the second time in a row, the businessman Rohit R. Pawar bagged the Karjat-Jamkhed Assembly seat (Ahmednagar) by a thin margin of 1,243 votes over his nearest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Prof. Ram S. Shinde.

On the other hand, Ajit A. Pawar romped home in the Baramati Assembly seat (Pune) with a whopping margin of 100,899 votes, trouncing his nephew, Yugendra S. Pawar who was contesting his maiden elections.

Ajit Pawar added: “You barely scraped through… If I had conducted a rally (in Karjat-Jamkhed), just imagine what would have been your fate,” said Ajit Pawar, rubbing it into Rohit R. Pawar, but again patted and wished ‘All the Best’.

Later, Rohit R. Pawar chatted with media persons and said that “despite our political differences, Ajit Pawar is like my father figure”.

“In the 2019 Assembly elections, uncle (Ajit A. Pawar) had helped me hugely, and since he is my elder, it was my duty to touch his feet. In this land of Y. B. Chavan, the tradition and values he had given need to be followed and we are also doing the same,” said Rohit R. Pawar – the son of Ajit A. Pawar’s cousin, Rajendra Pawar.

To a question on Ajit A. Pawar’s parting jibe at him, Rohit R. Pawar smiled and acknowledged that if he had indeed held a public meeting in his constituency (Karjat-Jamkhed), the election outcome could have been different.

“But he was busy in Baramati and didn’t get time to visit my constituency. I also congratulated him (Ajit. A. Pawar) for his eighth victory there,” said Rohit R. Pawar.

While Rohit R. Pawar accused the BJP of distributing Rs 30 lakh in his constituency ahead of the elections, the vanquished candidate Prof. Ram S. Shinde concurred that he had sought Ajit A. Pawar’s time to address a rally (in Karjat-Jamkhed), but it couldn’t materialise.

Shinde also claimed that it was a Pawar Family deal in which he became the victim and accused Ajit A. Pawar of not adhering to the ‘dharma’ of MahaYuti alliance politics.

However, NCP State President Sunil Tatkare dismissed the allegations as ‘baseless’ and said that the party had worked with full vigour for all the candidates of the MahaYuti including BJP and Shiv Sena.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at: [email protected])

--IANS

qn/uk