'Uddhav Gave Up Without A Fight; Lacks Political Acumen': Sharad Pawar In Autobiography

In his new autobiography, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has said that Uddhav Thackeray lacks political acumen and that he gave up without a fight against rebellious MLAs in his party.

Speaking on the occasion of the release of a revised version of his autobiography Lok Maze Sangati, Pawar also said that he would step down as the chief of the party he founded in 1999.

In a tell-all book, Pawar has revealed many things about the post-2019 election debacle leading to Ajit Pawar jumping ropes to form a government with the BJP, only to quit the alliance later and finally form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government which lasted two years.

He also wrote in detail about the fall of the MVA government and appeared to blame Uddhav for its fall. “It was expected that there would be desperate attempts to break off the alliance. The government collapsed because he gave up without a fight,” Pawar writes in the book.

In the book, the NCP reportedly also says that Uddhav lacked ‘political acumen’ and was unaware of political ongoings in the party.

He also said that he finds it difficult to believe that even as the CM, Thackeray would visit Mantralaya, the administrative headquarters, only twice a week.

“When Uddhav took over the reins, we were missing the openness of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. One had to take an appointment after taking into consideration his doctor appointments. His health was a limitation for him,” the book is reported to say.

He lauded the MVA as a major achievement for building an anti-BJP front of opposition parties and blamed the Shiv Sena leadership for its demise.

His comments have come at a time when BJP and NCP leaders have been exchanging jibes over the 2019 Ajit Pawar episode and the fall of the MVA government last year.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that he too wants to write a book where everyone would come to know the reality of the 2019 incident. Fadnavis has maintained that Sharad Pawar was fully aware of Ajit Pawar’s decision but later chose to break off the alliance.