KOLHAPUR:
NCP chief Sharad Pawar addressed a rally on Friday evening at Satara in western Maharashtra amid heavy rain. Pawar was offered an umbrella by the party workers but he refused it as the crowd was sitting in the rain.
The seventy-nine-year-old politician has undertaken hectic electioneering and is addressing a minimum three to four rallies every day in all parts of Maharashtra.
NCP sources said that he had addressed around fifty meetings after assembly election for Maharashtra was announced.
Pawar arrived in Satara, which is going for Lok Sabha byelection because of Udayanraje Bhosale’s resignation late in the evening. Heavy rains started when Pawar stood to address the rally. He continued his speech amidst slogan shouting by the crowd. He addressed the rally for ten minutes in the heavy rain.
Pawar’s Satara rally went viral on the social media late in the night and many of prominent party leaders like Jayant Patil, Supriya Sule, Jitendra Avhad and Dilip Walse-Patil, showered praises on him. Several NCP workers also resorted to social media to post Satara rally. NCP workers believe that Satara rally has energize the party machinery when polling was two days ahead.
Pawar took the opportunity to take a dig at Udayanraje Bhosale, 13th descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who quit NCP, resigned from membership of Lok Sabha and contesting byelection. “Rain God has blessed us," Pawar said and appealed the voters to correct his mistake to field the wrong candidate in 2019 election.
Pawar is scheduled to address four meetings on Saturday when the campaign will come to an end by evening. He is scheduled to address three meetings in Pune district and one meeting in Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district, where his grandson Rohit is contesting. Pawar, traditionally, addresses last campaign meeting in his home town. He will address the last meeting in Baramati, where Ajit Pawar is NCP candidate.