Society doesn't like anybody breaking their own family; have realised my mistake: Ajit Pawar
Gadchiroli, Sep 7: Noting that society doesn't like rifts in families, NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said he had already admitted his mistake, an apparent reference to the electoral contest between his wife Sunetra and cousin Supriya Sule in recent Lok Sabha polls.
Notably, this is the second time in less than a month that Pawar publicly admitted that he had made a mistake by fielding his wife against Sule and noted politics shouldn't enter the home.
The "admission" of mistake came against the backdrop of poor performance by the NCP, one of the constituents of the Mahayuti alliance, in its maiden general elections after the split in the undivided party.
Addressing the Jansamman rally organised by NCP in Gadchiroli city on Friday, Pawar tried to discourage party leader and state minister Dharmarao Baba Aatram's daughter Bhagyashri from crossing over to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
Speculation is going around about a potential contest between Bhagyashri and her father in the upcoming assembly elections.
"Nobody loves a daughter more than her father. Despite giving her away in marriage in Belgaum, he (Aatram) stood by her in Gadchiroli and made her the president of Zilla Parishad. Now you (Bhagyashri) are set to fight against your own father. Is this right?" he asked the gathering.
"You should support your father and help him win because only he has the capacity and determination to develop the region. The society never accepts breaking one's own family," Pawar said.
This is like breaking the family, he said referring to the rift between Bhagyashri and her father over her political move.
"Society doesn't like this. I have experienced the same and accepted my mistake," Pawar said.
The NCP led by Ajit Pawar suffered a severe drubbing in Lok Sabha polls losing three of the four constituencies, including Baramati, it had contested. In contrast, the Sharad Pawar-led faction won 8 out of 10 seats.
Aatram, an MLA from Aheri in Gadchiroli district, sided with Ajit Pawar.
"Aatram's daughter learnt politics from the father. Atram was the "vastad" (master) in politics who always kept one move close to his chest and played it at the appropriate time. Like a vastad, Aatram too doesn't teach everything to his pupil," Pawar quipped.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
