Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who had a few days ago called it his mistake to field his wife Sunetra Pawar against his sister Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha elections, has been continuously making such statements, which have started various discussions in political circles. On Thursday, Ajit Pawar advocated calling an all-party meeting in the state to discuss the Maratha quota issue. Three days ago, his uncle and senior leader Sharad Pawar had also similarly talked about calling an all-party meeting on this issue.
Speaking to PTI during his ‘Jan Samman Yatra’, Ajit Pawar said opposition parties cannot be ignored as they also represent the people. “Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange wants quota under Other Backward Classes (OBC). Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had called an all-party meeting to discuss the quota issue but the opposition stayed away. I don’t know if the boycott was deliberate,” he said.
Ajit Pawar has said that there is no competition between him and his uncle Sharad Pawar for the Maharashtra assembly elections as they are running their respective election campaigns. In a separate interview to news agency ANI, he also supported the demand for caste census of uncle Pawar’s India Alliance and said that it should be done once. This will end the hassle. Let us tell you that the alliance in which Ajit Pawar is, i.e. Mahayuti, in which BJP is the largest partner party, has been opposing the caste census but Ajit Pawar has supported it.
Ajit Pawar has been on the target of the Sangh since the Lok Sabha elections. It has been said by the Sangh that NDA has suffered losses in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections due to the alliance with Ajit Pawar. It is believed that since then Ajit Pawar’s party Mahayuti has been marginalized in the alliance. However, Ajit Pawar is denying this and saying that the three constituent parties of the Mahayuti will contest the assembly elections together and form the government in the state again. A joint rally of Mahayuti is also going to be held from August 20. On the other hand, the rift between Pawar and CM Shinde is also increasing on other issues including seat sharing. In view of all this, there is also a discussion that Ajit Pawar can return home under the leadership of his uncle in NCP. He refused to comment on this in an interview with ANI.
However, Ajit Pawar is hopeful that the ‘Mukhyamantri Ladki Behan Yojana’ launched by him in the budget will benefit him and the Mahayuti in the upcoming assembly elections. Praising the scheme, he said it will be launched at a program in Balewadi on August 17 and its beneficiaries will get money for July and August. Under this scheme, women will get assistance of Rs 1,500 per month provided their annual family income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh. Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also attend the program related to the launch of this scheme.
Criticising the opposition for calling it an election gimmick to burden the state exchequer, Ajit Pawar said he has presented 10 budgets and has knowledge about finance. On the issue of resource mobilisation, Ajit Pawar said Maharashtra contributes 16 per cent to the country’s GST collection, of which 50 per cent goes back to the state. (With Bhasha inputs)
