Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and veteran Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, on Friday, hogged the limelight on social media when he paid tribute to the Jan Sangh co-founder and Hindutva icon Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay on his birth anniversary. Many from his party and Congress raised eyebrows. Pawar’s tweet fuelled rumours that he is unhappy over the functioning of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and may take some extreme steps.
Minutes after Pawar had tweeted at 8.48 am, Twitterati reacted. Some of them wanted to know whether Pawar, who is the nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, is planning to change his loyalty again. Some recalled his rebellion and early morning swearing in ceremony with former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Few others said, “Dada rocks, old memories were refreshed.”
Thereafter, Ajit Pawar deleted his tweet to avoid rumour mongering. He was reportedly snubbed by senior Pawar who has been an ardent opponent of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Ajit Pawar in his explanation said, “Seniors will have to be listened to if you are in social life and in politics.” He further stated, “It is our culture, our tradition to speak well of people who are not alive. I had tweeted this accordingly. But while active in social work or in politics, the seniors have to be listened to. There are other things too.”
Although Ajit Pawar has not revealed the names of his seniors, it was quite obvious he was signalling at his uncle. Recently, Ajit Pawar’s son Parth had attracted criticism after he had tweeted welcoming the foundation laying function of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Parth, who is NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, had tweeted, “Jai Shreeram.” Further, after the Supreme Court ordered the handing over of the Sushar Singh Rajput death case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Parth had tweeted “Satyamev Jayate.”