Sharad Pawar won't contest 2019 polls: NCP

Putting to rest speculations that Pawar will contest from Pune Lok Sabha seat Ajit Pawar while addressing the media here said, "Sharad Pawar remains our supreme leader. He is 78 years old now and he feels that he shouldn't contest in Lok Sabha polls. Some party workers in Pune had requested him to contest in the polls but he told them clearly that he won't contest any election and his name should not be proposed from any seat. He has also asked party workers about the name of any other candidate that they may have in mind."

The former Union Minister is currently holding a two-day meeting with party leaders at the party's state unit office to discuss candidates for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for next year.

Sharad Pawar has been in active politics now for six decades. He was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four times, was the Defence Minister in then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao government and Agricultural minister in Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh government.

Sharad Pawar had left the Congress party over the foreign nationalist issue of Sonia Gandhi and constituted the NCP.