NCP National President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is contesting from his home turf Baramati against nephew and NCP(SP) nominee Yogendra Pawar, on Monday asserted that he will win with a margin of over one lakh votes.
Ajit Pawar, who had recently accepted that it was his fault to field wife Sunetra Pawar against cousin and NCP(SP) candidate Supriya Sule from Baramati in the Lok Sabha elections, said that the Baramatikars will vote for him considering his record as a doer and performer, especially due to the implementation of a slew of development projects over the year, for scaling up Baramati's development.
Ajit Pawar's statement comes at a time when his estranged uncle and NCP(SP) President Sharad Pawar is solidly standing with grandnephew and party nominee Yogendra Pawar seeking votes based on his association with Baramati for over five-and-half decades.
Considering the age of Sharad Pawar, you elected Supriya Sule to the Lok Sabha. He (Sharad Pawar) will not like Supriya Sule's defeat at this age. So you did correct. We accepted it, says Ajit Pawar in his poll rallies.
However, he says the voters now had to vote for him if Baramati's development was to step up the gear as it would be possible under Mahayuti government in Maharashtra and the BJP-led NDA government at the centre.
"Baramatikars are in two minds". I request them that as they have cast their votes for Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha, now it's time to vote for me in the Assembly elections. I have carried out the maximum number of projects in Baramati during my career. During that period, many people had started working with me. Keep aside the disputes and differences among villages for a while, and vote for me, requested Ajit Pawar while interacting with Baramatikars on Monday.
Similarly, he had made the same appeal during his recent village-level meetings in Baramati constituency.
You had cast your votes in Lok Sabha polls to make Sharad Pawar smile. Now vote for me to make me smile, said Ajit Pawar.
He claimed that the Mahayuti comprises BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP will win more than 175 seats in the 288-member state Assembly.
"The Mahayuti leaders and cadres belonging to the respective allies are working hard for victory. Besides, Mahayuti leaders are holding rallies all over Maharashtra," he said.
Slamming the Opposition for allegedly setting a fake narrative in Lok Sabha polls that hit Mahayuti but won't work during the Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar, who during his budget launched a slew of welfare and development schemes worth Rs 1 lakh crore, said that the Mahayuti government's schemes have received an overwhelming response from the people of the state.
He took a dig at the Opposition by saying, "The Opposition cribbed about our schemes and now all over schemes appear in their manifesto. They were asking us where we will get the money for these schemes, now they should answer from where will the Maha Vikas Aghadi get the money.".
"The Maha Vikas Aghadi is misleading the people. They will not come to power, so they are trying to get people's votes by making whatever announcements they want," he said.
On the present situation of onion and sugarcane farmers, Ajit Pawar replied, "Earlier onion farmers didn't get good prices due to the export ban. This impacted us in Lok Sabha elections. I requested the Centre and today onion farmers are getting good prices. Sugarcane farmers are also getting good prices for sugarcane.".
While NCP(SP) candidate Yogendra Pawar, while asserting, "There is no pressure to fight against uncle (Ajit Pawar) though I feel bad. Such things should not happen in any family.",
He added, "I will not talk about Ajit Pawar as he is elder to me. I am not in Baramati to oppose anyone but to support Sharad Pawar."
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