People voted to check power from being in few hands, says Sharad Pawar
Pune: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that in the recently held Lok Sabha polls, the people voted to put a check on power being concentrated in the hands of one or two persons.
He said it would have been difficult for the ruling BJP to achieve the majority mark of 272 in the 543-member Lok Sabha had it not received the support of the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), Telugu Desam Party of N Chandrababu Naidu and other allies.
Pawar also exhorted his party workers to be ready for the Maharashtra assembly elections due later this year and claimed the power of the state will be in their hands after the polls.
He was addressing the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) workers as the party celebrated its 25th foundation day at its office here, days after his outfit won 8 out of 10 Lok Sabha seats it contested from Maharashtra as part of the opposition alliance in the 2024 general polls.
Though the BJP could not get a majority on its own in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the party-led National Democratic Alliance secured 293 out of 543 seats.
Pawar said today, the country is going through a different situation.
"The government's reins are in the hands of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi but looking at the poll results, the people's mandate is not of their convenience. Compared to the seats they won five years ago, their numbers have reduced this time. Their strength and majority in Parliament have reduced," he said.
"Had they not received the support of JD(U), and Telugu Desam Party and other allies in Andhra Pradesh, it would have been difficult for them to achieve the majority mark," the former Union minister said.
In the last five years, only one or two persons ran the government as per their will and they did not think about the country in a broader perspective and emphasised on the centralisation of power, he claimed.
"But fortunately, the people of the country, anticipating the situation ahead, voted in a way to put a check on power being in the hands of one or two persons," he said.
Though there has not been a complete decentralisation of power, a process has begun of having an administration which will go on the path of decentralisation of power, the former Maharashtra chief minister said.
On the occasion, Pawar hoisted his party's flag in the presence of his daughter and Baramati NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, other leaders and workers.
"In the last 25 years, we worked towards spreading the party's ideology and we will take the party ahead with all our might," the NCP founder said.
"Now it is my and your collective responsibility to work and aim for the state assembly elections so that after the poll results, power will be in your hands and we will ensure the use of power will be for the common people and those who are marginalised," he said.
Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999 after breaking away from the Congress.
The NCP split in July last year after Ajit Pawar and some other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
In February this year, the Election Commission announced the Ajit Pawar faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party and allotted the NCP symbol clock' to the group.
The NCP (SP) of Sharad Pawar was later allotted the symbol of man blowing turha (a traditional trumpet) to contest polls.
