Pawar Keeps The Pot Boiling

The NCP supremo rallies opposition leaders and takes up the farmers’ cause in a bid to make a comeback in state politics

- Kiran D. Tare

When NCP chief Sharad Pawar stood beside others, including Sharad Yadav, Omar Abdullah, D. Raja and Hardik Patel at the ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ rally this Republic Day, many saw it as a gesture that did not reflect his iconic stature. Earlier, on December 12, when Pawar, unexpectedly, joined a protest march demanding relief for the state’s beleaguered farmers, it was his first major political outing in the state in years. All signals that the Maharashtra strongman is looking to make a political comeback in his state.

Addressing farmers at the protest march in December, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo had urged them not to pay power bills till they received the full loan waiver promised by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. On January 2, a day after the caste violence in Maharashtra’s Koregaon Bhima, Pawar blamed ‘Hindutva forces’ for the trouble; on February 22, in a televised conversation with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, he advocated reservations based on economic status.