Taking a U-turn, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said he might contest the elections the 2019 elections, though he has no desire to do so.
“Party leaders have urged me to contest upcoming Lok Sabha election. I am not interested but since the party leaders are insisting, I will mull over it,” Pawar said.
He did not contest the 2014 elections and preferred to be in the Rajya Sabha.
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Sharad Pawar is likely to contest from Madha constituency in Solapur district. Earlier, in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Pawar had contested and won the elections from Madha constituency which was a newly formed constituency.
The constituency is currently represented in the Lok Sabha by NCP’s Vijaysinh Mohite Patil. “The sitting MP Vijaysinh Mohite Patil also was among the leaders who wished that I should contest from Madha.”
Talking about Mahagathbandhan, Pawar said the mega-alliance is not taking place at the national level but efforts are being taken to bring anti-BJP parties together at the state level.
He also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in Parliament. ” I had the opportunity to listen to the last speeches in Parliament of former prime ministers such as Manmohan Singh, PV Narasimha Rao….In their speeches, there was `sabhyata’ (decency) and there was respect for Parliament, political parties and their representatives,” Pawar said.