Sharad Pawar 'not surprised' by Shiv Sena name freeze

I was expecting this to happen... I don’t have any proof to say that it is being done on purpose but I had a gut feeling that this would happen, said Sharad Pawar

The freezing of Shiv Sena symbol and the use of party name was a development that was bound to happen, said veteran politician Sharad Pawar as the two Maha Vikas Aghadi partners - NCP and Congress - rallied behind Uddhav Thackeray’s group.

"I am not at all surprised by this decision. I was expecting this to happen... I don’t have any proof to say that it is being done on purpose but I had a gut feeling that this would happen,” said Pawar, the chief architect of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

According to him, Thackeray’s party would bounce back.

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"Shiv Sena has no option left but to face the elections with a new party symbol…even I had contested on several symbols like bullock pair, a cow and calf, charkha, panja and then clock. It doesn’t really matter on which symbol you contest but only people decide whom to support,” he said.

State NCP President Sharad Pawar said that the BJP was trying to finish off the democracy. “I condemn it,” he said.

NCP national spokesperson said: “This was not 'Operation Lotus' by BJP but 'Operation Divide and Rule'. They implemented the British policy via an ambitious pawn to freeze late Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena name and symbol. But BJP must remember that this trick played by them can also backfire on them someday."