NEW DELHI: In first reaction after his party’s dismal performance in Maharashtra assembly polls, Sharad Pawar on Sunday said the election results “were not on expected lines” and that he would “study reasons and go to the people”.
The NCP(SP) chief called the Maharashtra mandate people’s decision and acknowledged that “women’s participation in large numbers could be a reason for Mahayuti sweep in polls”.
He also said that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which his party is part of, should have worked more for the state polls.
“We (MVA) were more confident after Lok Sabha results; it seems we needed to work more,” Sharad Pawar was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
He also defended his decision to field Yugendra Pawar against his estranged nephew Ajit Pawar in Bharamati, saying “someone had to contest”.
“Fielding Yugendra Pawar against Ajit Pawar in Baramati wasn’t a wrong decision; someone had to contest,” Sharad Pawar said in Karad.
“There can be no comparison between Ajit Pawar and Yugendra Pawar,” he said.
He further said: “No qualms in accepting Ajit Pawar got more seats in Maharashtra polls, but everyone knows who is the NCP founder.”
Sharad Pawar’s self-proclaimed swansong in electoral politics ended in a damp squib with his nephew’s NCP winning more than 4x the seats that his own party could muster.
In retaliation for Ajit’s decision to field his wife against Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, the Maratha warhorse had turned the Baramati contest again into a prestige fight, pitching Ajit’s nephew against him.
The gambit didn’t pay off. Ajit’s NCP has upped its score from a mere six assembly segment leads in the Lok Sabha results to a tally of 41 MLAs, in the process beating the senior Pawar’s nominees in 27 head-to-head clashes; the latter won 7 of those contests.
Ajit has extended his sway over western Maharashtra (22 seats), Marathwada (10) and Vidarbha (5) while the majority of seats the senior Pawar held on to are all in western Maharashtra.
In the Maharashtra assembly elections, Mahayuti achieved a significant victory by winning 230 seats out of the total 288 constituencies. The BJP emerged as the largest party with 132 seats, whilst their coalition partners performed well – chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena secured 57 seats, and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP obtained 41 seats in the state assembly.