NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the crucial architect of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra, turned 80 today.
Pawar was instrumental in the formation of the NCP- Congress’s unlikely tie-up with the Shiv Sena final year, immediately after the Sena fell out with its ally BJP following the assembly polls.
Not just the post-poll tactics, even prior to the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2019, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had left no stone unturned to woo voters.
During an election rally Satara, Pawar spoke even immediately after it began raining heavily. He refused the umbrella he was supplied saying, “Varun Raja (rain god in the Hindu mythology) has blessed the NCP. With his blessings, Satara district will now do magic in the upcoming polls.”
While the rally organizers have been rethinking about the rally immediately after the sudden shower, Pawar remained undeterred, stepped to the dais and launched a blistering attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in the Centre and state.
Photographs and videos of Sharad Pawar addressing an election rally in Maharashtra’s Satara amid heavy rains did rounds on social media platforms. The speech was produced at a campaign rally for NCP’s Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil in the Satara Lok Sabha bypolls.
Patil contested the election against Udayanraje Bhosale, a direct descendent of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Bhosale was a sitting NCP MP from Satara but had quit to rejoin the BJP early September. Bhosale lost the seat to Patil in the bypolls.
As the speech completed a year on October 17, NCP celebrated the moment by posting a video on Twitter.