'Maintain decorum of home minister’s post': Sharad Pawar hits back at Amit Shah

Pawar further pointed out that the then Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made him the Vice Chairman of the Disaster Management Authority after the Bhuj earthquake despite being in the opposition.

Mumbai: Days after Amit Shah targetted Sharad Pawar by accusing him of “perpetuating the politics of betrayal and treachery” in Maharashtra since 1978, the NCP (SP) supremo hit back, asking him to maintain the decorum of the post of Union Home Minister and pointed out that Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Uttamrao Pawar too was part of his government. 

“This country has seen many excellent Home Ministers, but none of them was externed from his state,” Pawar said in what was an apparent reference to Shah, who in 2010 was externed from Gujarat for two years in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which he was discharged for lack of evidence. 

Referring to Shah’s attack on him vis-a-vis the Progressive Democratic Alliance from 1978-1980, Pawar said: “I was the Chief Minister in 1978. I am not aware of his (Shah’s) whereabouts at that time…leaders like Uttamrao Patil from the Jan Sangh were part of the government.” 

Pawar, a four-time Chief Minister and three-time union minister, further pointed out that the then Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee had made him the Vice Chairman of the Disaster Management Authority after the Bhuj earthquake despite being in the opposition. 

“There used to be ‘susanvad’ (good communication) between political leaders earlier but that is missing now,” he said. 

On Sunday, at the BJP state-level convention in Shirdi, Shah had said: “The BJP’s victory in Maharashtra buried the politics of instability and backstabbing started by Sharad Pawar in 1978. You (the people) have buried such politics 20 feet underground."