Mumbai, May 2 (). In an unexpected political outburst, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced his resignation as party chief here.
This sudden announcement led to hundreds of people protesting the move with tears of shock and disbelief, demanding its withdrawal.
At the time of this announcement, Pawar looked a little sad, but determined. His wife Pratibha was also sitting next to him. “I know when to stop… I have formed a committee of senior NCP leaders which will decide on the next president,” he said.
Ajit Pawar, state party chief Jayant Patil and other senior leaders tried to pacify the party workers and lower rung leaders and urged them to remain calm.
Pawar, 82, announced his retirement during the launch of his autobiography Lok Majhe Sangayi – Political Autobiography.
The Rajya Sabha member said that he has three more years to go to Parliament. He assured that he would remain active in public life through socio-politics like last 55 years.
Describing his long political journey, Pawar said that on May 1, 1960, when Maharashtra was formed under the leadership of Yashwantrao Chavan, he joined the Pune City Youth Congress as an active party worker.
Later he got many responsibilities in Maharashtra Youth Congress. He moved from Pune to Mumbai and came in contact with youth organizations and leaders across the state.
At one time, the Indian National Youth Congress selected a group of young leaders for the World Assembly of Youth Scholarship to study how a new generation of leadership is created in other countries and how it is planned. Under this, got a chance to visit America, Japan, Canada and Denmark and interact with the leaders and organizations there.
As general elections were announced in the country in 1966, he cut short his foreign tour and returned to join the process of selecting Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies. Senior party leaders insisted that the youth should also be fielded in the elections.
Pawar, who later became the chief minister of the state four times, said at the age of 27, on the insistence of Yashwantrao Chavan, I was selected as the candidate for the Baramati assembly constituency. An influential person of the cooperative movement was contesting against me.
He was elected with a wide margin because of his long association with the State Youth Congress and vast network of a large number of workers and leaders.
He was also selected as the secretary of the Congress Legislature Party for his interest in the work of law, which was appreciated by the party.
He devoted a lot of attention to the work in the Legislative Assembly and continued to work as an active youth legislator with the encouragement of the then Chief Minister Vasantrao Naik. In 1972, he won with an even bigger margin and was made a minister.
In the last 56 years, he recalled his services as MLA, MLC, MP in both Houses, Minister in State and Centre, four times Chief Minister, Defense and Agriculture Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and other positions.
After leaving the Congress in 1999 to form the NCP, he served as its president for the last 24 years of his 63-year-long political career.
Pawar said, “I have three years left in Rajya Sabha, during which I will focus on issues related to Maharashtra and India without taking any responsibility.” ..After a long innings of public life from May 1, 1960 to May 1, 2023, it is necessary to take a step back.
He said that despite this he would do a lot in the fields of education, agriculture, cooperation, sports and culture on issues related to youth, students, workers, dalits, tribals and other weaker sections of the society.
Pawar is associated with several organizations in which more than 4.50 lakh students study – like Rayat Shikshan Sansthan (Satara); Vidya Pratishthan (Baramati); Maratha Mandir (Mumbai); Mahatma Gandhi Sarvodaya Sangh (Urali Kanchan, Pune); Shivnagar Vidya Prasarak Mandal (Baramati); and All India Maratha Education Council (Pune).
He founded the Nehru Centre, Mumbai, which promotes activities in the field of science; the Yashwantrao Chavan Foundation, which focuses on various issues in Maharashtra; the Mumbai Institute of Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya, which promotes reading, culture and the preservation of books; Planned to give time to
He said, I am in charge of several organizations like Vasantdada Sugar Institute, which is doing research and extension work in sugarcane and sugar factories. I will pay more attention to this work from now on.
I cannot forget the strong support and love Maharashtra and all of you have given me in the last six decades, Pawar said at the end of his address. Now the time has come for the new generation to decide the direction of the party and take it in the direction they want to take it. I am recommending that a committee of NCP members should be formed to decide on the election for the post of President.
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