“My words were misconstrued”: Dilip Walse Patil apologises after row over his remarks on Sharad Pawar

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Apologizing for his statement that Sharad Pawar  “could not single-handedly bring the party to power in Maharashtra, “Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Dilip Walse Patil offered clarification, saying, the people of Maharashtra have not given the NCP a majority mandate to secure power independently.

Instead, the NCP had to forge alliances with other political parties to create a coalition government.

Saying that “his words were misconstrued without understanding its meaning”, Walse Patil close aide of Sharad Pawar, “I feel that the media has gotten it wrong. In my speech yesterday, I did not criticize or say anything wrong about honorable Sharad Pawar saheb anywhere. The political analysis that I presented to the activists and the public in yesterday’s speech, the media misconstrued the issue without understanding its meaning,” Dilip Walse-Patil posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Extending his apologies to Sharad Pawar, Patil said that the people of Maharashtra should have supported the NCP chief.

“My point was that when we had such a great leader, the people of Maharashtra should have stood by him. Yesterday I expressed my regret that it did not happen. He has also spoken publicly in many party meetings and gatherings before. No criticism or wrong word is possible from me towards respected Pawar Sahib.

However, I apologize for any misunderstanding that may have arisen,” he said in a tweet.

While addressing party workers at Ambegaon taluka, Patil said, “We always say that there is no big leader like Sharad Pawar in the country, but the people of Maharashtra have never given him a majority and never made him the Chief Minister on his own.”

Earlier, the former Home Minister also points out that other regional parties are moving ahead on their own, but NCP is lacking behind.

“Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati become the CM, but we have to form an alliance with someone or the other. The regional party is moving ahead on its own, but our 60 to 70 MLAs get elected and we have to form an alliance with others,” Patil said.

Dilip Walse Patil further said “We have not joined BJP, NCP is our own party, we are in NCP only. The Election Commission will decide who will get the name and symbol of the party, after that, there can be a stir in the politics of the state.”

“We had talked to Sharad Pawar twice before taking the decision to join the government, but when no response came from there, we had to take this step,” Patil added.
Moreover, Sharad Pawar earlier also alleged that some of the NCP leaders joined hands with the BJP since they were threatened by the “agencies”.

“Some of our associates joined BJP under the pressure of investigations by agencies. They were told if you join us (the BJP) then nothing will happen in your cases but if you don’t join then you will be shown a different place (jail),” Sharad Pawar said on Sunday.

The crisis in the NCP was triggered by Ajit Pawar (then Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly) switching sides and joining the Eknath Shinde-BJP government and taking oath as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, a few months back. Eight other NCP MLAs took oath as ministers with Ajit Pawar.