HE BACK-STABBED CONG, CAN NEVER BE OUR LEADER: SENA’S GEETE ON NCP’S PAWAR
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader and former Union minister Anant Geete has said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who once “backstabbed” Congress, cannot be a “guru” for Sena workers.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Sena, NCP and Congress in Maharashtra was only an “adjustment”, he said at a rally in Raigad district, his home turf, on Monday.
While the opposition BJP claimed that Geete expressed the views of Sena workers, an NCP leader said he had been sidelined and the comment did not warrant reaction.
Pawar is considered to be the architect of the MVA, formed after the Sena severed its alliance with the BJP in 2019. “Pawar cannot ever be our leader as this government is merely an adjustment. Let people use as many accolades for Pawar as they want, but our guru is only (late Sena supremo) Balasaheb Thackeray. As long as this government is functioning, it will go on...if we separate, our home is Shiv Sena...,” he said.
The former MP added: “Pawar formed his party by back-stabbing Congress. If Congress and NCP cannot become one, the Sena also cannot toe the Congress policy entirely. Congress and NCP were not always cordial (to each other).” Dismissing Geete’s remarks as his personal opinion, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: “Pawar is a national leader, and at this moment, we are together in this government which is functioning properly… He (Geete) is not connected with the government; some leaders may have personal opinions.”