Sharad Pawar springs a surprise, says won’t fight LS polls

Mumbai: In an apparent volte-face, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said he would not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the Madha constituency. At the same time, the 78-year old Maratha strongman  endor-sed the candidature of Par-th Pawar, his grandson, from the Maval seat in Pune district.

“Since I have already won elections 14 times, I decided not to contest the poll this time,” said Mr Pawar after holding a meeting with party leaders. “Somebody from our family had to step back and I decided to give an opportunity to the young leadership. I thought this was the right time to take this decision,” he said.

The NCP chief’s daughter Supriya Sule currently represents the Baramati seat in the Lok Sabha.

Parth Pawar, the son of former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, will be NCP’s candidate from Maval Lok Sabha constituency, said Mr Pawar. “Jayant Patil of the Peasant and Workers Party of India, which has a good presence in three of the six Assembly segments in Maval constituency, urged me to give a ticket to Parth as his party is ready to work for him. We also have a strong presence in the three other constituencies and we thought of giving an opportunity to the young leadership by giving a ticket to Parth from Maval,” he added.

The NCP chief had earlier said he was reconsidering his decision not to contest the Lok Sabha election as his party workers wanted him to contest from Madha in Solapur district. However, Monday’s announcement has put all speculations to rest.

Reacting to the development, Maharashtra chief  minister Devendra Fadn-avis attributing the NCP chief's decision to pull out to his sensing “the change in the air.”

Addressing BJP workers at the party office in Dadar, Mr Fadnavis said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had once praised Mr Pawar’s ability to sense changes earlier than others. It looks like he has understood the change and this is a major victory for the BJP.”