PUNE: Known for his shrewd political moves, the National Congress Party (NCP) president and federal Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar retracted from his earlier statement that he would retire and would not contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
He said that he was rethinking his previous stand following the demand of NCP workers that he should remain in active politics and become the next prime minister of India.
Speaking at a public function in Shirur town in Pune district yesterday, Pawar said that even though his party workers and leaders were speaking of his prime ministerial prospects, he played down his party workers’ move tactfully stating that that the prospects of becoming a prime minister is all about the number games in political democracy.
Nevertheless, he avoided giving indications of backtracking from his earlier announcement of not seeking the Lok Sabha seat in the next elections.
Pawar said “I feel that there is enough energy left in me and am of the opinion that as an elder politician I should at least become a member of the Rajya Sabha. But, my party workers and leaders are insisting that I should contest the Lok Sabha elections from Shirur constituency. My daughter, Supriya Sule, will now take my place as the party candidate from Baramati, my hometown, constituency from which I had been elected several times.”
Refusing to come clean whether he would contest the Lok Sabha seat from Shirur constituency, Pawar said that this was a issue to be decided by the party and that a final decision on his candidature and constituency would be taken by the state NCP unit on Feb. 6.
Maharashtra Minister for Finance Dilip Walse-Patil, in his speech laced with flowery words, paid glowing tributes to Pawar, and said that “if Chandrasekhar, Indra Kumar Gujral and Deve Gowda could become prime minister without support and having insufficient numbers of their respective party members of Parliament, then nothing could prevent a great leader like Pawar from becoming the next prime minister of the country.”
Patil said that the country needed a dynamic, matured and experienced leader like Pawar and would like to see him as the prime minister.
