Sharad Pawar announces first candidate for State poll: Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur
Indapur: BJP leader and State Minister Harshvardhan Patil not only formally joined the NCP (SP) but his name was also announced as the first candidate from NCP (SP) by party President Sharad Pawar in Indapur on Monday (October 7).
‘Send him to the State Assembly’
Sharad Pawar announced Patil’s name from the dais, though the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has still not finalised the seat-sharing. Appealing to the audience, Pawar said, “You should send him to the State Legislative Assembly.” He indirectly made it clear that Harshvardhan Patil would be the NCP (SP)-MVA candidate from Indapur. Reactions started emerging from political circles over the announcement.
‘Harshvardhan has to change people’s lives’
Pawar said, “Some things should be clear in your mind. Harshvardhan Patil said that he could do ‘any’ work in the party. We have not accepted you in the party to do ‘anything’. You will have to work for the people, you will have to change their lives. This will be your first and foremost task, for which you (audience) send him to the State Assembly.
“I am not contesting. You have elected me 14 times. Indapur taluka voted for me in seven elections. I do not want anything for myself. I want to change the face of Maharashtra. I want to change people’s lives. My party will work for this. To achieve this, we will need people who have merit, experience and administrative acumen. Therefore, you have the responsibility to send such people to the State Assembly. My responsibility will then be to allot tasks to them for the State.
“Some people asked me if it would happen. I told them that they need not worry. You don’t know whose son-in-law is he? Before marrying off our daughter, we check every detail of our future son-in-law’s family.” This sent the audience into a laughter.
He said, “We have got a good family. Their life is going on smoothly. Similarly, Harshvardhan has the ability to run affairs of Maharashtra smoothly.”
Next bigwig’s entry
Sharad Pawar indicated that another big leader would enter the NCP (SP) in Phaltan on October 14. He said, “I won’t reveal much. The picture is changing. This programme is being held today. I got a call from someone. They insisted that I would have to visit Phaltan the way I am here today. I asked them what the occasion was. They told me that it would be a programme similar to one in Indapur. I asked them the venue of the function. They told me it would be Phaltan. Have you got it? So, see you in Phaltan! Later, almost all daily appointments have been booked for a month. People want to unite for a cause, for a change.”
