Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday strongly defended the decision to go with BJP-led MahaYuti in Maharashtra and NDA at the national level. In his defence, he said: “Sitting in the opposition and giving slogans does not work. We are not saints. We are people who solve people’s problems and do politics of the sum. Therefore, we decided to go with the BJP and the NDA.”
He, however, declared that “the NCP runs on the ideology of Shiv, Shau, Phule and Ambedkar and there will be no compromise with it”.
Ajit Pawar was speaking at the rally organised the completion of 26 years of the party on its foundation day today. Incidentally, Ajit Pawar did not speak about merger between two NCP factions or an alliance with the Sharad Pawar led party. Instead, he hinted that NCP will continue to be part of BJP led MahaYuti in Maharashtra and NDA at the Centre.
“The Nationalist Congress Party is a party that runs on the ideology of Shiv, Shahu, Phule and Ambedkar. Now some people ask me why you have gone with the BJP? I tell them that in 2019, our party had formed the government with the Shiv Sena party. Even then, we had made some compromises for power,” said Ajit Pawar.
He declared that there will never be any compromise with this ideology.
“The day there is any compromise with this ideology, the foundation of the party will be weakened. This battle is about thoughts and ideology and will be fought adhering to this ideology,” he clarified.
“There, N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has secular views, has also come with the BJP. At one time, Mamata Banerjee was also with the NDA. Similarly, Lalu Prasad Yadav was also with the NDA at one time. Ultimately, the state should develop. Now the Centre has decided to conduct a caste-wise census. The reason for this is that everyone should understand that which community is the largest in this country and Maharashtra and how many people belong to which community? Because if we want to give funds to a community, the question arises of how much funds to give. Now some people are deliberately trying to defame us since our government came to power,” remarked Ajit Pawar.
“I still remember the day of June 10, 1999. Sharad Pawar and some other dignitaries came together and founded the Nationalist Congress Party. Since then, the party has never looked back. Our party has never got a majority. We have always had to participate in power. Because the political situation has already created such a situation that the days of one party coming to power are over. Because even at the Centre, the country has seen a situation where someone had to form an alliance and coalition like UPA or NDA. But because everyone supported us, the Nationalist Congress Party is celebrating its 26th anniversary today,” he commented.
Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance and planning departments, said that some people made statements that injustice was done to the Social Justice Department, adding that there is no truth in it.as 38 per cent more funds were given to that department compared to last year.
“Everyone knows that while presenting this year’s budget, we have increased the funds to the Tribal Welfare Department by 41 per cent. But this information is not being made public,” he said.
He defended the launch of Ladki Bahin Yojana saying that it was done ahead of the state Assembly elections after the MahaYuti got a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. NCP bagged only one seat.
“While I am traveling around the state, I tell everyone that everything can be done, but not the money. The state’s income should also increase. For that, we have to take some decisions. But sometimes news comes that Ajit Pawar is not releasing money…,” he said.
(IANS)
