'Don't bring local level politics into India's global outreach on terror': Pawar tells Raut

Pune: NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Monday virtually snubbed Sanjay Raut, advising him against bringing "local level politics" in India's global outreach efforts, a day after the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader called for boycotting the Centre's move to send delegations to various countries.

Pawar recalled that he was a member of a delegation sent by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to the UN under the leadership of BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Addressing the media in Baramati, the former defence minister said, "When the international issues crop up, the party-level politics should be shunned. Today, the Centre has formed some delegations, and they have been assigned to go to some countries and put forth India's stand about the Pahalgam attack and the subsequent activities from Pakistan." Notably, Raut on Sunday said I.ND.I.A. bloc constituents should have boycotted the Union government’s move to send all-party delegations to different countries, claiming they will defend the “sins and crimes” committed by the government.

Pawar said Raut has the right to make his own opinion.

"But I can see one member from his party (Sena-UBT) is part of the delegation. I feel local-level politics should not be brought into this issue," he said.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra comprises Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Fifty-one political leaders, parliamentarians and former ministers cutting across party lines will be part of the seven delegations travelling to world capitals to put across India’s resolve to tackle terrorism against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor.

NCP (SP) working president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule is part of one of the delegations, while Priyanka Chaturvedi is representing Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

Asked about the opposition to the proposed Purandar Airport by some farmers who refused to part with their land for the project, Pawar said he would try to resolve the issue by convening a meeting of local representatives from the region.

He noted that the land at some of these villages came under irrigation through a lift irrigation scheme when he was the chief minister.

"The farmland in these villages is fertile for horticulture and sugarcane, and hence, locals don't wish to give their land for the project. My efforts will be to resolve the issue by convening a meeting of local representatives from the region, Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, and the chief minister. We hope to find a solution to save this irrigated fertile region," he said.

Locals opposing the project met Pawar in Pune on Sunday and raised concerns about inadequate compensation, displacement and environmental damage.

One of the villagers who met Pawar said the senior leader dialled NCP chief and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, also the guardian minister of Pune district, and enquired about the situation.

On May 3, violence broke out during drone surveys across seven villages identified for the international airport. More than 25 policemen and several villagers were injured in the clashes.