'He has a fierce will power; he has been a fighter all his life and even at this age his spirit is strong enough to take on any kind of adversity that comes his way.'
Chhagan Bhujbal -- the Nationalist Congress Party's MLA from Yevla in Nashik and a close aide of party supremo Sharad Pawar -- tells Prasanna Zore/Rediff.com that he is as shocked as anybody in the party after Pawar's sudden decision to step down as NCP president on May 2.
Bhujbal, a former Shiv Sena MLA, quit that party in 1991 and joined the Congress and later tagged along with Sharad Pawar when the latter quit the Congress to form the NCP in 1999.
In case Sharad Pawar stays firm on his resignation, who do you think should become the national president?
I have been saying this since yesterday (May 3). If at all Pawar saheb refuses to withdraw his resignation, then only in that case, Supriya tai (Supriya Sule, Pawar's only child and the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati) should become the national president of the NCP and Ajit Pawar should take over the helm of the party in Maharashtra.
Tell me, who is the leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra? It is Ajit Pawar. He has been doing his job sincerely. He has solid administrative experience in the state.
It is equally true that Supriya tai is doing a fantastic job as a Lok Sabha MP in Delhi and in her constituency Baramati. She is known to all the political leaders at the national level.
You have been Sharad Pawar's close associate ever since you quit the Shiv Sena in the early 90s. What made him take the decision to announce his resignation?
Nobody knows. There was no demand for his resignation. Nobody had levelled any charges against him. It was a bolt from the blue.
What then could be the reason for his sudden decision to resign?
I don't know. Nobody knows.
Did you speak to him why he announced his resignation without consulting his close aides?
Yes. He said we would have never allowed him to make the decision public if he had consulted us.
Is age the only real reason for his resignation?
Perhaps, he wants the newer crop of leaders to handle important, national responsibilities.
Was this necessary when the general and assembly election in the state are just a year around the corner?
He never said that he is resigning as a politician or an MP. He has promised to handhold the party.
This afternoon (May 4) he came to meet the party workers at the Yeshwantrao Chavan Centre and promised them that the feelings of the party workers will not be ignored.
That after two days they will not have any reason to sit on a dharna requesting him to take back his resignation.
Is that a sign that he has made up his mind to withdraw his resignation?
Whatever he says is conclusive. I was not there when he addressed the party workers, but I saw it on TV channels.
Do you believe he has made up his mind to withdraw his resignation and that the party workers as well as NCP leaders have succeeded in making him withdraw his decision?
It is very difficult to say so at this point in time. Everybody is confused (after he said what he said while addressing our party workers at the Yeshwantrao Chavan Centre). What can we say?
Would you subscribe to views expressed in the media and political circles that Sharad Pawar resigned to save his party and family from an imminent split with his resignation decision?
What split? Where is the split?
There are reports that one set of MLAs led by Ajit Pawar are keen to join hands with the BJP and form a government IF the Supreme Court disqualifies the 16 MLAs belonging to the Shiv Sena including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde?
Such reports always make for interesting newspaper or TV reportS, but these are all hogwash and good only for entertainment. Even if that is the case, there was no need for Pawar saheb to resign.
You must have been meeting Sharad Pawar more frequently in the last two days. How is his mood, his health and spirit?
He is in fine fettle. His mood and spirit are cheerful as always. But it is also a fact that since the last two years Pawar saheb is only on liquid diet.
He has a fierce will power; he has been a fighter all his life and even at this age his spirit is strong enough to take on any kind of adversity that comes his way.
Even at this age (he turned 82 on December 12, 2022) there is lot of fighting spirit left in him.
If my information is correct, he is on a political visit to Solapur district on May 6.
He refuses to be bogged down by the circumstances around him. He always prefers to be among the janata. I have been requesting him to withdraw himself from arduous tours but he is ten times more active than all of us.
Listening to people, helping them solve their issues is like a tonic for him.
Let me ask you this again since you happen to know him well. Did Sharad Pawar resign to avoid a split in his party and family?
Which decision?
The decision to resign as NCP's national president...
There is no truth in such reports.
It has been in the news for quite some time now that Ajit Pawar is all ready to join the BJP and form a government in case the Supreme Court disqualifies the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs whose rebellion led to the split in the Shiv Sena in June 2022.
This is ridiculous. Even if those 16 MLAs are disqualified, the BJP and Shiv Sena will still have more than 144 MLAs for the government's survival. There is no threat to the government even if these 16 are disqualified.
Wouldn't Eknath Shinde have to resign in case he is also disqualified creating a vacuum right at the top of the government?
The numbers that the BJP have don't suggest there is any threat to the government even if that (disqualification of 16 MLAs including Shinde) happens.
Isn't there something called political morality?
If there was any morality (left in the BJP and Shiv Sena), then would he (Eknath Shinde) have split the party and would the BJP have helped them do what they did?
Supriya Sule had stated that within 15 days Maharashtra politics will witness two major earthquakes...
Are you saying she was hinting at Pawar saheb's resignation as one of those earthquakes?
Does Supriya Sule's statement indicate a possibility that Sharad Pawar had held discussions about his resignation with Ajit Pawar and her?
Might be... might be possible. (It is) possible that they must have discussed about it. But we were all in the dark about it and are as confused as the ordinary party worker.
