NCP (SP) leaders slam Parth Pawar over comments against Congress bypoll row

A day after Pawar-family patriarch Sharad Pawar ridiculed Parth Pawar for his outburst and sharp comments against the Congress in the backdrop of by-elections to Maharashtra’s prestigious Baramati seat, leaders of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi slammed the newly-elected Rajya Sabha member.

The reactions from Parth, the son of deputy chief minister and NCP national president Sunetra Pawar and the late Ajit Pawar, came after the Congress broke ranks with the MVA and put up a candidate against his mother, who is contesting the by-polls from the family seat of Baramati.

The by-elections have been necessitated following the death of Ajit Pawar, popularly known as Ajit Dada, an eight-term Baramati MLA and six-time deputy chief minister, who died when a Learjet business jet was attempting landing at the Baramati airfield on 28 January.

In the wake of Congress fielding Akash More, Parth said that there was no point speaking to the high-command of the grand old party.

“We are ready to fight and we will win….they have put up a candidate despite the fact that it has big matured leaders…People will not forget it…Congress will have to face it…this would trigger the downfall of Congress in Maharashtra,” he said on Monday.

However, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar reacted immediately saying that statements in politics requires maturity, and he is unsure whether Parth Pawar has attained that level of political maturity. “Any election must be fought with the presumption that there will be a contest… It is the prerogative of the leaders of any party to nominate a candidate and that cannot be termed as wrong,” he said.

NCP (SP) working president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar also slammed him.

“We have all witnessed the Congress party closely. I have contested many elections alongside them and have been elected with their votes and blessings. Whether it is Ajit Dada, myself, or Sharad Pawar Saheb — who spent many years within the party — we have all been raised in the school of Congress thought…The Congress party was associated with the Quit India movement and the struggle for a free nation, and the transformative policies were introduced by former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. Besides, Congress was credited with initiatives ranging from women’s reservation to the strengthening of local governance,” said Sule.

“The statement of Parth was not proper…there was no point speaking for another party…no party finishes like this…I believe someone (senior) from the NCP will speak to Congress,” said Rohit, his cousin.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut too hit out at Parth. “I agree with Sharad Pawar Saheb. Congress is a national party and has every right to contest the election…Parth’s father, Ajit Pawar’s (party) contested the Pimpri-Chinchwad by-election following the death of Laxman Jagtap, and he did so with the help of Congress. If they could seek help then, why shouldn’t Congress contest now?” he asked.

Congress reacts sharply

In a sharp reaction, the Congress took to X and slammed Parth. “Isn't it a bit too much for a son—who can't even deliver a speech properly and has just become an MP thanks to the accumulated merits of his family—to be talking about the downfall of the Congress party? It would be better if this ungrateful son—who stayed silent as a political convenience to escape scrutiny in the land scam investigation right after his father's suspicious accidental death, and who surrendered before the superpower—simply refrained from speaking about the Congress party altogether.” “To secure justice for this boy's father, the Karnataka government filed an FIR in their state; there, the government belongs to the Congress party, and the official candidate of the Congress party in the Baramati assembly by-election is demanding that the suspicious accident be registered as a crime in Maharashtra, threatening to withdraw from the election. Shouldn't this ungrateful son speak up about this too?,” it added.