Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray differ on midterm polls in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar on Friday ruled out the possibility of midterm polls in the state, as suggested by Uddhav Thackeray, and also sought to play down his earlier comment on President’ rule in the context of the early-morning swearing-in.
Pawar said he doesn’t see any reason for midterm polls, but “we will have to see under which circumstances Thackeray has made the statement”.
Citing the fluid political situation in the state, Thackeray asked party workers to be prepared, in a video message to voters of Pimpri and Kasba, which are going for bypolls.
“We will have to wait for the litigation pending before the Supreme Court. In addition, there is a plea that a section of legislators who left the party should be disqualified. If the plea is accepted, the possibility of midterm polls is not ruled out,” said Thackeray in Thursday’s video message.
Pawar described as casual his statement on the swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar on November 23, 2019, during an interaction with the media. A week after Fadnavis claimed Sharad Pawar was aware that Ajit was taking oath with him, Pawar had reacted sharply, saying had it not taken place, there was no scope of lifting President’s rule in the state and that Thackeray would never have become the CM of Maharashtra. On Friday, Pawar said he is not that powerful to lift President’s rule in the state.
Pawar also strongly supported the speech of a prominent leader in Pune and took on Fadnavis, saying it was wrong of the deputy CM to “take objection to the leader’s speech, it was an attempt to give it a religious colour”. Fadnavis had said: “In a meeting presided over by Pawar, one leader passed casteist appeal to bring Muslims from everywhere, even dead Muslims, to vote to defeat RSS and Modi, but this is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s Pune, this battle is now between anti-nationals and nation-lovers.”
Asked about banners popping up in south Mumbai describing Jayant Patil, Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule as future chief ministers, the NCP president dismissed it as the work of mischief mongers.