Maintaining that the party has faced an “emotional split”, Sule said she will be fighting an ideological battle against her elder brother and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
in Mumbai on Tuesday. Ganesh Shirsekar
Even as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has been facing questions from many, including its MVA allies, on clearing its position about Sharad Pawar’s several meetings with Ajit Pawar after the split in NCP, senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule on Tuesday said that while they will continue to fight the ideological battle, they are “one as a family”.
Maintaining that the party has faced an “emotional split”, Sule said she will be fighting an ideological battle against her elder brother and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who has joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In her first detailed interview, after the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Sule said, “I believe that we, from our end, will try our best to keep the family intact. We will try not to bring politics into the family. He has made a choice for himself as an Indian citizen in a democratic system. Why should it be a political battle between us? It is an ideological battle. Two ideologies will fight against each other. We will be one as a family, but contest against each other ideologically.”
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Speaking about the split, Sule said, “It is an emotional split. After all, politics is about policies and ideologies. It is not a business transaction, that I don’t like a job here and going there. This is what differentiates us from them,” Sule said.
Blaming BJP for the split in the party, Sule said, “It has become obvious that the BJP is absolutely anti-Maharashtra. They break families, they break parties. My angst is only against the BJP. I blame nobody but the BJP. They don’t believe in fair democracy. The new BJP is like those who look at us as enemies which is the shallow, narrow way of looking at things.
On July 2, Ajit joined the BJP- led state government after rebelling against his uncle and NCP president Sharad Pawar. Ajit, along with eight others, were sworn in as ministers. While Sule chose to be with her father Sharad Pawar, it was rumoured that she, too, was offered a ministerial berth in the Union Cabinet. When asked about it, Sule said, “Not to my knowledge. I have no personal enmity against anyone in the world but I do have serious problems with the BJP, on ideological level.”
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When asked about Ajit’s attack on Sharad Pawar after his rebellion, Sule said it was Painful. “Exceptionally, deeply, emotionally painful. It is my only reaction. We are all humans at the end of the day. But I believe in dialogue in democracy. We are not enemies,” she said, adding that a dialogue cannot be the window to allow the return.
Commenting on the frequent meetings between the senior Pawar and Ajit Pawar, Sule said that it is part of the democratic process. When asked about the anxiety of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) about the meetings, Sule said the NCP must be answerable and accountable to its allies. “So, there’s nothing wrong with whatever they feel. It is our duty to communicate the honest truth to them, which we would. Dialogue is important in politics for this reason,” she said.
Taking a dig at the Election Commission of India (ECI), which is seeking replies in a case by Ajit group claiming the NCP name and election symbol, Sule said that she wouldn’t be surprised if things don’t go the right way.
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First published on: 23-08-2023 at 04:00 IST