Maharashtra: Sharad Pawar Shares How He First Became An MLA, Who Opposed Him And Who Gave Him The Chance
Mumbai, 11th July 2022: Sharad Pawar, the senior most leader of Maharashtra, has shared a 50-year-old anecdote of when he was elected MLA.
In a program organized in Aurangabad, he said that 50 years ago local Congress leaders had opposed giving me a ticket for the assembly elections. Pawar mentioned how it was because of Vasantrao Naik and Yashwantrao Chavan that he became an MLA for the first time.
Pawar said, “I wanted to stand for Maharashtra assembly elections 50 years ago. I had asked for a ticket from the (Congress) party. At that time, Congress leaders in the district were opposing giving me the ticket. I was 26 at that time.”
Pawar said that Congress leaders had opposed him and raised questions like how can you give a ticket to a youngster of 25-26 years. When the leaders went to raise the question, Vasantrao Naik and Yashwantrao Chavan Sahib came forward. Naik said that 190 seats will be ours out of 288. This means we will not get 98 seats. In such a situation, if one more seat is not available then there will be no problem.
Pawar said, “Vasantrao Naik said your 98 seats are going to fall. Don’t mind another fall, give a ticket to Sharad Pawar. Then I got elected, behind this was the power of Yashwantrao Chavan and Vasantrao Naik. I can never forget it.”
NCP chief Sharad Pawar was elected MLA from the Baramati assembly constituency at the age of 26. He was an MLA for many decades to come.
Pawar said, “After five years in the cabinet, Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik elected me as the Minister of State. He gave me the responsibility of Minister of State for Home.”
Vasantrao Naik has been seen by many as a person who used to work to bring in the new leadership. Sharad Pawar is considered to be the architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which had to be ousted from the power of Maharashtra recently. Now Shiv Sena’s rebel leader Eknath Shinde is the chief minister of the state, who has been supported by the BJP.
