A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s rally in Yeola — the Assembly constituency represented by Chhagan Bhujbal, his old party colleague – Mr. Bhujbal on July 9 questioned the purpose of the rally and clarified that the party rebellion took place in Mr. Sharad Pawar’s family and not because of him.
“Sharad Pawar saheb, why did you come to Yeola? I could not understand it. I am not responsible for the rebellion. It happened in your family,” Mr. Bhujbal, now a Minister in the Maharashtra government, said in Nashik.
Mr. Bhujbal, as an Other Backward Classes leader, highlighted his role in organising rallies and delivering speeches, suggesting that Mr. Sharad Pawar may have chosen Yeola for his rally due to Mr. Bhujbal’s presence there.
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Further, Mr. Bhujbal said “Pawar saheb thinks I have created this rebellion but I have nothing to do with it.”
He pointed out that former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel, a colleague of Mr. Sharad Pawar in Delhi, Mr. Ajit Pawar, his nephew, and Dilip Walse-Patil, a close aide, were all connected to the internal discord.
The Minister said that he felt ‘sad’ that Mr. Sharad Pawar had come to Yeola but did not attend a rally organised by the NCP in Mr. Walse-Patil’s constituency.
“Pawar saheb said in the rally that he apologised to the people as giving me the candidature was a mistake. But, there is no need for him to apologise because development in Yeola took place because of me,” Mr. Bhujbal said. He pointed out that despite Mr. Sharad Pawar’s popularity in Nashik district, both NCP candidates lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
