"Respected Sharad Pawar, You're Needed As NCP Chief": Union Minister

A day after NCP chief Sharad Pawar announced that he would step down as party head, Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane Wednesday said the 82-year-old leader's presence was needed in politics as well as his party's president.

Sharad Pawar on Tuesday dropped a bombshell by saying he is stepping down as chief of the NCP which he founded and helmed since 1999, but not retiring from public life. His nephew Ajit Pawar later announced his uncle will need two to three days to "think over" his decision.

About Ajit Pawar appearing to be the only NCP leader favouring his uncle's decision, Narayan Rane said, "Ajit was making big speeches. He found Pawar's decision correct while the party workers hold a contrarian view." "Respected Sharad Pawar, you are needed in politics as well as president of NCP," said Narayan Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader.

He also took a dig at former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, accusing him of being incapable of taking his party along.

"He (Uddhav Thackeray) is incapable as a leader and this is a fact. Still, Sharad Pawar made him chief minister. Pawar has admitted about his (Thackeray's) shortcomings as chief minister," Narayan Rane told reporters when asked about remarks made by Pawar in his autobiography 'Lok Majhe Sangati' (People Accompany Me).

Narayan Rane had quit the Shiv Sena in 2005 to join the Congress. He left the Congress in 2017 to form his own outfit 'Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha', which he merged with the BJP in October 2019.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)