Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar is in a bind. His advice to Uddhav Thackeray to accept the order of the Election Commission (EC) recognising Eknath Shinde's faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotting the bow and arrow symbol to it is being taken with a large dose of salt by Thackeray 's supporters. Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was also denied the Congress symbol of two bullocks on a yoke, but went ahead and made the hand symbol popular, he had said.
๐๐ณ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ'๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ, ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐: ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
However, Thackeray's supporters point out that there is a big difference in the situation then and now. They are wondering if Pawar is indeed a well-wisher of the saffron party. โIf we accept Pawar's advice, it will be the end of our party. The rank and file of the party want to move the Supreme Court and fight against the ECโs highly biased order," a Thackeray supported told The Free Press Journal on Saturday on condition of anonymity.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ (๐จ๐๐ง)
Resentment against Pawar has been brewing for the past few days after senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dropped a bombshell by revealing that Pawar was in the loop when the decision was taken to form the shortlived coalition government with Ajit Pawar on November 23, 2019. In a hush-hush early morning operation, then Governor B.S. Koshiyari had sworn in Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as the chief minister and deputy chief minister respectively. However, the government lasted only a few hours.
At that time Sharad Pawar had given the impression that he was betrayed by his nephew Ajit Pawar. However, Fadnavis has thoroughly exposed this and claimed that secret talks were held with Sharad Pawar himself before the coalition was formed.
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐'๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐บ
Pawar hit back by remarking, โI thought he (Fadnavis) was a gentleman.โ By stating this, Sharad Pawar has only confirmed Fadnavis' statement that he was very much in the thick of things to let down Uddhav Thackeray and form the government with Ajit Pawar.
Sources in the intelligence community also said Sharad Pawar was well aware that Shinde and his group of 39 MLAs are going to veer away from Uddhav Thackeray and form a government with the BJP. However, Thackeray was not alerted. โPolitics is about power and that power is based on the number MLAs that a party has and not the number of party district presidents,โ a political observer said.
Uddhav's supporters say the โdhanush baanโ (bow and arrow) symbol was central to the party's electoral campaigns. โThe voters associate the bow and arrow symbol and Balasaheb Thackeray with our party. So how can we now pretend that its okay if this tested symbol is not given to us?" a senior leader asked.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐
Sanjay Raut had acted at the behest of Sharad Pawar with regard to Sena affairs, according to political observers. This was evident when the latter called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him to help Sanjay Raut who was facing serious charges of corruption in the Patrawala Chawl case. Pawar did no such thing when his own party colleague, Nawab Mallik, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. Several Sainiks hold Raut responsible for the series of crises that the party has been facing in the past few months and want Uddhav Thackeray to be careful while dealing with Sharad Pawar in future.
