Maharashtra elections: 'Touch my feet... my absence helped you win', Ajit Pawar tells nephew Rohit

KOHLAPUR/PUNE: NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday encountered Ajit Pawar at Karad's Preeti Sangam, the memorial of Maharashtra's first CM Yashwantrao Chavan , where the NCP chief told him his absence on the Karjat-Jamkhed poll pitch for campaigning aided the young politician's victory.

Ajit Pawar asked Rohit to touch his feet, and the younger politician complied. Telling his nephew he (Rohit) had narrowly avoided defeat in Karjat-Jamkhed, Ajit Pawar asked what would have happened had he (Ajit Pawar) campaigned in the constituency. "Shanya thodkyat vachlas. Majhi sabha jhali asti tar kaay jhala asta? (You narrowly escaped. What would have happened if I'd campaigned?) Best of luck," said Ajit Pawar to his nephew, who responded with a smile and moved on.

Rohit later acknowledged that if Ajit Pawar had campaigned against him, the situation would have been different. "He is my uncle, therefore I touched his feet. There are ideological differences at present, but in our culture, we respect our elders. He also helped me in the 2019 election. In this land of Yashwantrao Chavan, one should not discriminate. Had he (Ajit Pawar) campaigned against me, it would have made a difference to some extent. But he was busy in Baramati. He was stuck there. He could have come to my constituency... he is a big politician. Now he has got more strength, I have congratulated him," Rohit said.

Ajit Pawar later said he would have sought the blessings of his uncle Sharad Pawar, whom he missed meeting by a few minutes as he was brought in from another route. "I was upset with the security personnel. They should have brought me from the other route. I could have had ‘darshan' of ‘Saheb'. Touching the feet of elders is our culture, especially when one is standing at the memorial of Yashwantrao Chavan, who laid the foundation of cultured politics," Ajit Pawar said.

He, however, minced no words in attacking Sharad Pawar for fielding his own nephew (Yugendra) against him.

He also countered Pawar Sr over the latter's claims of EVM misuse in the assembly elections, saying his uncle should accept defeat with humility like Mahayuti did after the Lok Sabha elections.

"There is no need to blame EVMs for the defeat. Win or loss depends on voters. Mahayuti constituents succeeded in gaining the trust of voters. In Satara district, which belongs to first CM of Maharashtra late Yashwantrao Chavan, MVA could not win a single seat," Ajit Pawar said.