Rift in MVA? Sharad Pawar praises Eknath Shinde; Uddhav Thackeray's Sena frowns, NCP-SP says ‘no need for politics in …’

Sharad Pawar felicitated Eknath Shinde during an event in Delhi on on Tuesday — drawing sharp criticism from the allied Shiv Sena (UBT). The Uddhav Thackeray led faction claimed that the move had hurt the “sentiments of Marathi people” and deemed the Deputy Chief Minister an “enemy of Maharashtra”.

“Certain things should be avoided in politics. Sharad Pawar did not felicitate Shinde…he felicitated Amit Shah. This is our feeling. Giving such an honour to someone we consider an enemy of Maharashtra is a jolt to Maharashtra's pride," said . Pawar must have thought differently, but such politics has not gone down well with the people of Maharashtra,” said party MP Sanjay Raut.

Shinde was honoured with the Mahadji Shinde Rashtra Gaurav Puraskar on Tuesday during an event in Delhi. The award was given to him by Pawar in the in the presence of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia during the 98th Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan.

‘Hurt the sentiments of Marathi people’

Raut also contended that the sentiments of the Marathi people had been hurt by the decision. Pawar heads the reception committee of the literary meet which is scheduled to start next week. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader however contended that Pawar should not have attended the event as Shinde had toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress in Maharashtra in 2022 by resorting to "betrayal".

“You (Sharad Pawar) are a senior politician, and we respect you. But the ones who split Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena with the help of Amit Shah and weakened Maharashtra, you are honouring such people. This has hurt the sentiments of Marathi people. We don't understand your Delhi politics, but we too understand politics,” Raut added.

Meanwhile the ruling BJP claimed that the felicitation was an admission by the NCP (SP) chief that ‘Shinde was a better chief minister than Uddhav Thackeray’. NCP (SP) MP Amol Kolhe said Raut could be voicing his personal opinion.

‘No need for politics’

“He showed statesmanship, where one does not bring politics into everything. I don't think there is anything wrong with that. He is the president of the event (reception committee),” he noted.

NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar also dubbed the reaction from Raut ‘surprising’ considering that Maharashtra has the tradition of civilised politics of Yashwantrao Chavan and Bal Thackeray, and senior Pawar carried this tradition forward, never allowing socio-cultural programmes to become a barrier due to political differences.

(With inputs from agencies)