BJP targets Pawar duo to get mileage in Maharashtra

Union agriculture minister's party gears up to foil attempts

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has firmed up a strategy to target Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and his nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, who is the party's in-charge of Maharashtra, will fire salvos against the Pawar duo in a bid to put them and the NCP in general on the defensive.

Munde, who is hurt by the NCP's efforts to weaken his hold on his stronghold of Beed in the Marathwada region and lure his nephew Dhananjay, wants to do a repeat of 1994-95 when he attacked Pawar senior while taking up the contentious issue of criminalisation of politics. Pawar was chief minister then and Munde went on raising questions with regard to the former's alleged nexus with persons having a criminal background.

Munde sees that attack is the best policy when it comes to the Pawars who also pose a serious challenge to the ruling Congress party. Munde in his scathing attack against Pawar, held him responsible for the present sorry state of affairs in the agriculture sector and especially of farmers. During a recent yatra in the underdeveloped Marathwada region, Munde declared that he would request party chief Rajnath Singh to allot the agriculture ministry if the BJP came to power at the Centre after next year’s general elections.

As far as Ajit Pawar is concerned, Munde treats him as a real villain for trying to break his family and divide the BJP in his home turf of Beed. Munde criticised Ajit for his alleged involvement in the multi crore irrigation scam which came to the fore last year and announced that he would see to it that Ajit is jailed. Munde told Business Standard that he would further step up his attack against the Pawars. However, he declined to further divulge details.

A BJP leader and Munde's close associate, who did not want to be identified, said Munde's attack is quite obvious as the Pawars are the face of corruption. “Munde is a mass leader. He has been targeted by the Pawars and NCP in general and he is quite well prepared to take them on,'' he added.

Munde has been joined by the state unit president Devendra Phadanvis who termed Ajit Pawar as ‘Maharashtra's Lalu’. Phadanvis had earlier ridiculed Pawar for his efforts to become Prime Minister in vain.

On the other hand, state NCP chief Bhaskar Jadhav said the party is prepared to refute charges made by Munde and Phadanvis. “We will not tolerate unnecessary criticism against our party chief and also against Ajit Pawar. How can Munde blame us for dividing his family? He himself had done so in the past when he lured party leaders from the Congress and NCP,” Jadhav added.

Another NCP leader said it has been Munde's strategy to attack the Pawars to gain political mileage. “Both Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar are mass leaders and decision makers and therefore, they are Munde's targets to increase his political stock. NCP will strongly foil Munde's attempts in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, especially by reaching out to the voters with an inclusive development agenda,” he noted.