Uddhav Thackeray lavishes praise on Sharad Pawar

Recalls friendship between NCP chief and Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday lavished praise on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and the Pawar family, remarking that while the Shiv Sena and the NCP may have been political opponents in the past, everybody was aware of the famed friendship between late Sena founder Bal Thackeray and Mr. Pawar.

Mr. Thackeray, speaking during the inauguration of an incubation and innovation centre and scientific research institute in Mr. Pawar’s stronghold Baramati (in Pune district), took wry jibes at the Sena’s estranged saffron partner, the BJP as well as his bete noire, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Narayan Rane.

“In politics, there will be opponents and criticism is needed… we [the Sena] too were your [the NCP’s] opponents all these years and used to criticise you, but the entire world knows about the friendship between Mr. Pawar and Balasaheb Thackeray. Balasaheb used to tell us that we should go to Baramati and see what Sharad Babu has done over there,” said the Chief Minister.

Remarking that it was not in Maharashtra’s political culture for parties or leaders to create obstacles to stymie progress and good work, Mr. Thackeray, in a veiled jibe at the BJP and Mr. Rane, said even if one could not openly support, it was not right to thwart one’s efforts

Speaking about the newly inaugurated incubation centre, the Chief Minister alluded to the 25-year-old alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena which finally unravelled after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls.

“There ought to be an incubation centre in politics. We [the Sena] had opened one 25 years ago, but also hatched some unwanted eggs. Everyone knows what happened later,” quipped Mr. Thackeray.

Lauding Mr. Pawar’s tireless commitment to development, Mr. Thackeray called the NCP chief a “youthful leader”.

“Mr. Pawar is leading the State, he is leading several such institutes here, and while he is continuously working, his family, too, is working tirelessly towards one obsession, and that is development,” he said.

In a humorous vein, Mr. Thackeray further said that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (the NCP chief’s nephew) told him that Baramati was on the way to becoming the ‘number two’ centre in education in the State after Pune.

“According to me, as far as teaching lessons in politics is concerned, Baramati is already number one,” he drily said, adding, however, that given the Pawar family’s continuous efforts towards development, Baramati would soon become one of the best centres not only in Maharashtra but in the country.

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