How Balasaheb's 'sack of flour' is known to go against the grain

Did Sharad Pawar get his timing right to save NCP and unify the Opposition?

Balasaheb Thackeray would call Sharad Pawar “maidyaacha pota” (sack of flour). While they were friends outside of the political arena, it was not a moniker of endearment.

In his memoirs, On My Terms, Pawar writes that Thackeray, “a cartoonist par excellence”, made “fun” of his “heavy girth”.

Did Thackeray also intend to describe Pawar as sluggish in his political manoeuvres?

Pawar has shown throughout his 63-year-long political career and did so again last week when he threatened to quit as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and relented three days later, heeding pleading party workers and leaders, that the 82-year-old “sack