HT Interview: What is Sharad Pawar’s ideology? His party had no ideology, says Chhagan Bhujbal
Bhujbal admitted that while there was “more noise” against him in Yeola, it was wrong to assume Marathas were angry with him
Yeola, Nashik: NCP leader and a prominent OBC face in Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal, in an interview to Saurabha Kulshreshtha, refuted the allegation that he had turned away from NCP’s ideology when he joined hands with BJP, by questioning the ideology of the party’s founder Sharad Pawar.
More recently, Bhujbal has been locked in a bitter verbal war with Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil who had appealed to voters in the community to defeat him in the assembly election. Bhujbal admitted that while there was “more noise” against him in Yeola, it was wrong to assume Marathas were angry with him.
Excerpts:
In a rally in Yeola on Tuesday, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar alleged that you betrayed the ideology of the party.
What is Sharad Pawar’s ideology? All political parties have ideologies – Congress, BJP (whether you like it or not), the Left parties, as did Shiv Sena formed by Balasaheb Thackeray.
What is the ideology of NCP founded by Sharad Pawar – there is none. The party was formed by a bunch of political chieftains from different areas, such as Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, Padmasinh Patil, Jayant Patil, Madhukar Pichad, Chagan Bhujbal etc. Now he accuses me and other leaders from our party that we gave up our ideology just because we joined the BJP-led government, although Pawar himself joined hands with the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray which is pro-Hindutva. So, there is no substance in this allegation.
NCP today follows the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar ideology.
If you believe in Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar do you agree with the BJP’s slogan of ‘Ek Hain to Safe hain’? Your party chief Ajit Pawar has expressed his reservation on it.
Every party has its own technique and ways to campaign for elections and seek votes. BJP has its own way – and as the ruling coalition, all three of us are seeking votes by campaigning about benefits given to women voters through schemes like Ladki Bahin Yojna. The opposition criticised it initially, but now they are promising ₹3000 per month to economically backward women.
Pawar said you betrayed both your mentors – Thackeray and him. Why did you leave him despite the fact that he gave you several opportunities?
Pawar is hurt, more in my case as I was very close to him. It was Pawar who helped me and some others leave Shiv Sena in 1991.
As far as opportunities and positions go, Pawar must have seen some qualities in me to give those positions, as did Balasaheb who made me an MLA and mayor. Pawar referred to my arrest by ED and said he did not make me CM in 2004 (when NCP had won more seats but conceded the post to ally Congress) because he knew what would happen. How did he get the premonition that I would be sent to jail after 10 years? Forget about me; why were others like R Patil, Ajit Pawar and Vijaysinh Mohite Patil not made CM?
The real reason was fear – that it would lead to a parallel group in the party similar to what happened when Congress made Sudhakarrao Naik CM after Pawar moved to Delhi in 1991. To avoid that, Pawar conceded the post to Congress in 2004 (Vilasrao Deshmukh became the CM then, and RR Patil of NCP was the DCM).
All 54 NCP MLAs, including Rohit Pawar, had signed a letter supporting the idea to join hands with BJP few months before the NCP split. Lastly, it was me who supported Pawar in forming NCP, ignoring Congress’s offer of the post of chief minister.
If MVA gets majority now and NCP (SP) emerges as the largest party, will he not claim the CM’s post?
Yes, he will not make any leader including Jayant Patil the CM though I don’t know what his plans are with his daughter Supriya Sule.
Yeola has been an easy win for you in the past. However, now it seems to be a different election with the Maratha community’s anger towards you. How will you tackle the issue?
There is no problem with the Maratha community. They have not distanced from me. Many of my campaign chiefs are from the community. Ambadas Bankar is one, who is looking after my overall campaign.
In the past, Uddhav Thackeray too used to get a good response in Yeola – his candidate used to get around 50,000 votes, but I would defeat them by around 60,000 votes by getting over one lakh votes.
All this is part of the election process, but yes, there is more noise this time.
You are fighting from Yeola, your nephew from Nandgaon and recently your son Pankaj was made MLC. All opportunities are within the family. Why didn’t you select anyone else than Pankaj as MLC?
That was the party’s decision – that those who were denied the opportunity to contest Lok Sabha will get priority in Rajya Sabha and legislative council seats. That party nominated Pankaj. Sameer was forced to fight Nandgaon assembly constituency as locals sought our help against the terrorism of the local representative, MLA Suhas Kande (Shiv Sena). We fought the agriculture market committee election against the Kande and won.
The opposition is campaigning against you over local issues like irregular water supply to Yeola and nearby areas. What issues you are focusing on?
Development is my caste, religion and my party’s ethos. That has been the mainstay since I came to Yeola.
I have built various government facilities in the constituency and memorials related to idols of various communities. I have already initiated projects for regular water supply to Yeola and nearby areas. The projects will be completed soon.
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