Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Sharad Pawar hints at retirement

Pawar (83) is in politics for close to six decades.

Mumbai: Weeks before he turns 84, veteran politician and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday dropped hints of retiring from active parliamentary politics as he engages in a major battle to save his fortress of Baramati. 

In the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar ensured that his daughter Supriya Sule won the elections from Baramati against Sunetra Pawar, the wife of his rebel nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who had taken control of the NCP. 

Now Ajit Pawar, whom he had mentored, is seeking a record eighth term from Baramati, however, faces his own nephew Yugendra Pawar, who has been pitted by NCP (SP). 

In the six decades of his illustrious political career – Saheb, as the four-time Maharashtra Chief Minister and three-time Union Minister,  is lovingly called, has earned sobriquets like ‘Maratha strongman’, ‘Chanakya’, 'Machiavelli' and ‘Bheeshma Pitamaha’ of Indian politics.  

Addressing an election meeting at Supa in Baramati in Pune district, Pawar, who is now a Rajya Sabha member, hinted that it's time to hang up boots. “I am not in power (now). I am in Rajya Sabha and the last one-and-a-half-years are left. I will have to take the decision as to whether to go to the Rajya Sabha again. I will not contest Lok Sabha, nor will I contest any election (as I have announced earlier)…I have already contested 14 (Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha) elections. How many times shall I contest…the younger generation needs to be given opportunity,” he said. 

Pawar went on to add: “You never let me go home in any of these elections, you made me win every election…but I need to stop somewhere…I became a minister of state and cabinet minister. I became Chief Minister four times. I worked as Defence Minister and later as Agriculture Minister," said Pawar.

"I decided that I will not be involved in the local politics here and gave all the responsibilities to Ajit Dada…For the last 25-30 years, he had all the responsibilities…For the first 30 years, I was there, later Ajit Dada was there for another 25 to 30 years and now there is a need to make arrangements for a new leadership," said Pawar.

The statement of Pawar, who is a key leader of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A. Bloc), has surprised Maharashtra’s political circles.

In fact, after the June-July 2023 rebellion, Ajit Pawar, while launching an attack on his uncle, had asked him  to retire from active politics and be in a guiding role. 

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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