Sharad Pawar Has Upset Many People By Not Quitting Politics: Supriya Sule

Nationalist Congress Party (SP) working president Supriya Sule on Friday said her father and veteran politician Sharad Pawar has upset many people by refusing to retire from active politics.

Speaking at an event in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district, the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati also made light-hearted comments on the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena, whose one faction is now an ally of her party in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Supriya Sule said she told Dharyasheel Mane, Shiv Sena MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur district, in Parliament in a lighter vein that "your party split because your leader did not give enough time (to the organisation and its workers), while our party (NCP) split because our leader devoted a lot of time to the party".

When the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, the rebel faction led by Eknath Shinde, who is now deputy CM in the BJP-led Mahayuti government, accused party president Uddhav Thackeray of neglecting his elected representatives and ignoring the party.

Referring to her father and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Pawar (84), Sule said he has upset many people by refusing to quit active politics.

In the past, NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has taken potshots at his uncle Sharad Pawar, currently a Rajya Sabha MP, over his age.

"Employees of the Maharashtra government retire at the age of 58. Most people normally stop their active professional life after turning 75. But there are a few (referring to Sharad Pawar) who, even after crossing 80 years of age and now 84, are not ready to retire," Ajit Pawar once said while addressing a gathering of party workers in Thane.

Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs loyal to him joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in July 2023, leading to a split in the NCP founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999.

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