PM, Uddhav, Rahul wish Sharad Pawar on 80th birthday

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who is seen as the architect of the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra, turned 80 on Saturday.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greeted him on the occasion, NCP's Praful Patel blamed the Congress party's internal culture for Pawar missing the opportunity to occupy the top post in the 1990s.

'Best wishes to @PawarSpeaks ji on his birthday. May almighty bless him with good health and long life,' Modi tweeted.

'Best wishes to Shri Sharad Pawar on his birthday,' Gandhi said on Twitter.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray described Pawar as the 'pillar' of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state, and also called him a 'senior leader and guide'.

In an article published in several newspapers, former Union minister Praful Patel claimed that Pawar could not become prime minister in the 1990s because of the 'darbar politics' in the Congress.

He was cut out to become PM in 1991 (after Rajiv Gandhi's death) and in 1996 (after Narasimha Rao's term as PM ended with electoral loss) but the darbar politics came in the way which was a loss for the country, Patel said.

A coterie of leaders 'misused Sonia Gandhi's name' to nix Pawar's chances in 1991, he alleged.

After the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress could have got support from other parties to form government under Pawar's leadership, but Rao did not let that happen, Patel claimed.

The Congress did not officially react to Patel's article, but a party leader said Pawar, who had quit the Congress in 1978 only to rejoin in 1986, was not considered loyal to the party.

Also, in 1991 bulk of the Congress MPs came from the South and they backed Rao, he said.

Commenting on Patel's article, the Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that 'less meritorious people feared Pawar and ensured he did not rise to the top'.

He reiterated that Pawar should have become prime minister long back, but added that for him, age is no barrier.

Pawar, a four-time Maharashtra chief minister, was defence minister between June 1991 to March 1993.

He quit the Congress in 1999 citing foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi and formed the NCP, but later he joined the United Progressive Alliance government headed by the Congress in 2004 and served as Union agriculture minister for the next 10 years.

Last year he was instrumental in the formation of the NCP-Congress combine's unlikely tie-up with the Shiv Sena after the Sena fell out with ally BJP following the assembly polls.

Speaking at a low-key function organised by the NCP in Mumbai to mark his birthday, Pawar said political workers should never compromise on ideology.

He spoke about the need to inculcate the 'progressive ideology of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, B R Ambedkar and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj' in the new generation of political workers, and noted that Phule and Ambedkar put stress on 'scientific temper'.

The veteran leader also remembered his parents, saying they taught him not to neglect family responsibilities while doing social and political work.