A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs pledged their support to the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, party president Sharad Pawar said that his fight is against "communal forces" and will work towards rebuilding NCP.
"Today, in Maharashtra and the country, a rift is being created between the society in the name of caste and religion by some groups," Pawar said while addressing party workers in Satara.
He visited the memorial of his mentor and Maharashtra's first chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan in Karad and paid floral tributes to him.
Slamming the NDA for toppling the ruling MVA government in Maharashtra, Pawar said, "YB Chavan always thought about common people. We are serving Maharashtra under Uddhav Thackeray, but our government was toppled by some people. The same is happening in other states too."
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Adding that this was a "bid to tumble democracy", Pawar said, "Some of our people fell prey to BJP's tactics to break other parties."
The 82-year-old leader's visit to late Chavan's memorial on the occasion of Guru Purnima is being seen as a show of strength by him, a day after his nephew Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the NCP.
Sharad Pawar on Sunday said he was undeterred by his nephew Ajit Pawar's rebellion and would start afresh by going among the people. He left from Pune for Karad on Monday morning where he was welcomed by thousands of his supporters.
