For the first time since Ajit Pawar led a rebellion against his uncle and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray criticised junior Pawar saying that Ajit’s opinion on Sharad Pawar was in “very bad taste”.
Thackeray, in an interview with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, the executive editor of Shiv Sena (UBT) party mouthpiece Saamana, said, “The opinion (which Ajit expressed) was in very bad taste. I didn’t like it. Because it does not suit our culture to make such exclamations about one from whom we have gained everything. We always respect elders, and we must be respectful towards them. What if they have become old? Then from whom should we take blessings? I did not like this statement.”
“If you don’t agree with him, say in public what you don’t agree with him. But even at this age, he (Sharad) gave you (Ajit) everything. I don’t understand how you can talk to him like this,” Thackeray said in the second part of the interview published in Saamana Thursday and aired on the party’s social media channels.
Following his rebellion, on July 5, Ajit Pawar had attacked Sharad Pawar saying that as he was getting older, it was time for him to retire.
“Now you (Sharad) got older, your age is 82, 83, are you ever going to stop? In every profession, there is a retirement age, be it bureaucracy or politics. In BJP, the retirement age is 75, we have the examples of L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others before,” he had said.
Interestingly, in the first part of the interview which was published on Wednesday, Thackeray had praised Ajit Pawar for his efficiency, saying Ajit worked in a “proper framework”.
“Ajit Pawar was with us for two and a half years. During this period, he served as the deputy chief minister and also had the finance portfolio. Ajit Pawar is a man who works in a proper framework. He managed the administration and also the finance portfolio well,” Thackeray had said.
Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on July 2, and took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister, sharing the position with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. In a cabinet expansion two weeks later, Pawar was allocated the Finance and Planning portfolios.