During the Maharashtra assembly elections, Sharad Pawar has been seen getting emotional about his old colleagues on many occasions and has appealed to the public to defeat them by calling them traitors. During one such election program, Sharad Pawar appealed to defeat Chhagan Bhujbal by calling him a traitor. Sharad Pawar said that Bhujbal, who betrayed his masters, will come to ask for votes from the people of Yeola and it is up to you to decide whether you will support such a person or not. In Yeola, NCP (SP) has fielded Manikrao Shinde against Bhujbal.

Appeal to defeat Chhagan Bhujbal

Sharad Pawar addressed his first rally after the rebellion in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) last year in his former confidante Chhagan Bhujbal's Yeola constituency on Tuesday and apologized to the people for fielding the "wrong candidate" in the 2019 elections. Sharad Pawar's passionate appeal to voters to defeat the "traitor" reflected the deep hurt he suffered after Bhujbal's siding with Ajit Pawar in July last year.

Many claims were made about Chhagan Bhujbal.

The NCP (SP) chief revealed that after the split in the NCP, Bhujbal had visited his house and offered to mediate between him and Ajit Pawar, but he never came back. Sharad Pawar said that ignoring Bhujbal's shortcomings, he was given several important posts from Leader of Opposition to Deputy Chief Minister, but despite this, he crossed all limits of political decency and betrayed them. Sharad Pawar said Bhujbal has a history of betraying him and his political mentors, including the late Balasaheb Thackeray. He called upon the voters to teach the turncoat a lesson. The NCP (SP) chief said, "Bhujbal mocked Balasaheb Thackeray, who made him the mayor of Mumbai. When he was afraid of attacks from Shiv Sainiks who were hurt by the jibes on Thackeray, I protected him. Later when he expressed his desire to contest elections, we made him a candidate, but he lost."

Sharad Pawar said his mistake.

Sharad Pawar said that when Bhujbal lost the assembly elections, he sent him to the Legislative Council and even made him the leader of the opposition. He said that when I founded the NCP, I made Bhujbal the first state president of the party. I made the mistake of fielding him from Yeola and handing him the second most important ministerial post in the government. Sharad Pawar said that Bhujbal made some mistakes and had to resign from the ministerial post, but he was taken back into the government after assuring to correct himself. He said, "When he (Bhujbal) had to go to jail after some allegations were leveled against him, I stood by him and even gave him a post in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government."

Did you ever try to make peace?

Sharad Pawar said that when the NCP split into two factions, Bhujbal came to his residence and offered to mediate between him and his nephew Ajit Pawar. "He offered to mediate and left, but has not returned since. He even took oath (as a minister) the next day," the NCP (SP) chief said.