Mumbai, January 28 (IANS). Shiv Sena-UBT chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has expressed grief over the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the plane crash. He said that he has lost a strong leader and an excellent colleague from his cabinet.
Uddhav Thackeray said, “When I was the Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar was the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister. He was a very disciplined leader, he had a strong hold on his department and had a deep understanding of the Finance Department. We had developed a special relationship as excellent colleagues. Ajit Pawar was open-hearted. He used to speak his mind. He did not keep anything in his mind for a long time. Even though he chose a different path in politics, he did not let our relationship break.”
He said, “He was popularly known as ‘Dada’ in Maharashtra. I never thought that he would be gone so soon. He was known as a leader who loved his workers. His departure has left a void in the leadership of the state. In every sense, he was truly ‘Dada’. From me, on behalf of ‘Thackeray’ and the Shiv Sena family, my heartiest tribute to Dada.”
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said that Maharashtra has lost a great leader. He said, “Ajit Pawar and I entered politics at almost the same time, although we came to know each other much later. But thanks to his passion for politics, Ajit Pawar made huge strides in the political world of Maharashtra. Although Ajit Pawar was a leader like (NCP founder Sharad) Pawar sahib, but later he created his own identity. And he took that identity to every corner of Maharashtra.”
According to Raj Thackeray, urbanization gained momentum in Maharashtra in the 1990s. Rural areas started moving towards semi-urbanization, yet the nature of politics there remained rural, even though the nature of their issues started becoming urban to some extent.
He said, “Ajit Pawar had a complete understanding of this kind of politics and also had the skill to handle it efficiently. Pimpri Chinchwad and Baramati are two great examples of this. Be it Pimpri Chinchwad or Baramati, Ajit Dada transformed these areas in such a way that even his political opponents acknowledged it.”
Raj Thackeray said, “He was a leader with a perfect grip on administration and he knew where to untie a file to solve it. At a time when administration should rise above those in power, it is very sad that Maharashtra has lost such a leader. Ajit Pawar was very straightforward. If something could not be done, he would say it straight to his face, and if it could be done, he would put his whole heart into it.” Cheating people by making promises was not his style. In politics, one has to pay a price for honesty and integrity, and one can imagine what a price Ajit Pawar had to pay for it.”
He said, “Another quality of Ajit Pawar that I admired was that he was completely free from caste discrimination, and caste had no place in his politics. In today’s politics, the leaders who show the courage to work regardless of caste are becoming less and less, and Ajit Pawar was undoubtedly at the forefront of them. In politics, opposition is political, not personal. That is why in Maharashtra, there are less and less leaders who keep this in mind. One should not take each other’s toxic criticism personally. The continuous departure of liberal opponents from politics is a big loss to the great political tradition of Maharashtra. My family and I share the grief of Ajit Pawar on behalf of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.”
–IANS
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