NCP Chief Sharad Pawar during his 80th birthday celebration organized by party workers in Mumbai on December 12, 2020. (PTI Photo / Shashank Parade)
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had previously rejected media speculation that Sharad Pawar could take over the UPA from Sonia Gandhi.
- News18
- Last update: December 28, 2020, 12:01 am IST
- FOLLOW US:
Niraj kumar
The head of the NCP, Sharad Pawar, said on Sunday that he has no interest in becoming the president of the UPA, dismissing speculation that he could take over from the head of Congress, Sonia Gandhi. Pawar’s statement to News18 came a day before his trip to Delhi to meet with opposition leaders on the ongoing farmer agitation.
“I don’t have the time or the desire to be president of the UPA. There is no question of such a proposal, ”Pawar told News18.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had previously rejected media speculation that Pawar could take over the UPA from Sonia Gandhi. “The Nationalist Congress Party would like to clarify that there is no discussion among the UPA partners regarding such a proposal,” said chief spokesman Mahesh Tapase. “The reports that appear in the media appear to behave planted by vested interests to divert attention from the ongoing agitation of farmers,” he added.
However, in celebrating Pawar’s 80th birthday on December 12, CPN leader Praful Patel made a foray into the Maharashtra allied Congress and said that the strongman from Maratha could not become prime minister in the decade of 1990 due to the party’s “darbar clique”.
Speculation was fueled by Shiv Sena’s leader Sanjay Raut’s cryptic response that “anything can happen in politics.” The Sena, the PNC and the ruling congressional ally in Maharashtra had expressed confidence that the former Union minister, who turned 80 on December 12, is capable of playing a greater national role. “Politics is unpredictable. You never know what will happen next,” said Sena Raut deputy.
.
