Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has declared that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Pawar himself told reporters in Pune that his nephew Ajit Pawar and latter’s son Parth Pawar will not enter the election fray.
“Ajit Pawar is not going to contest election, Parth Pawar is not going to contest, Rohit Pawar is not going to contest. Sharad Pawar is going to contest,” he said on the sidelines of an event here on Tuesday.
Earlier, Pawar had said that other NCP leaders were insisting him to contest from Madha constituency in south-western Maharashtra. However, there is no confirmation yet that he will enter the fray from Madha.
Pawar is a Rajya Sabha MP while his daughter Supriya Sule is a Lok Sabha MP from the family bastion of Baramati.
Ajit Pawar is an MLA and served as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra in the previous Congress-NCP government in the state.
The clarification comes in the backdrop of reports doing the rounds that NCP may field Parth and Ajit in the general elections and the party chief may stay away from the electoral battle.
Sharad Pawar had served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra thrice between 1978 and 1995. After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Pawar joined the the Congress-UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh as Minister of Agriculture and remained in the office till 2014.
On BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, Pawar said, “There was an atmosphere in last few months where there was heated exchange of words between them. Today, they are standing together,wanting to send message of unity. People of Maharashtra can understand their strategy. They will think and take step.”