With the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) having suffered a major defeat against the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena combine in the Lok Sabha polls which culminated just a little over a month ago, veteran leader and party chief Sharad Pawar has taken full charge of the organisation, reports Livemint.
Pawar is said to have himself taken up the mantle to lead the party's campaigning for the upcoming state Assembly elections instead of delegating the job to the younger leadership of the party, which includes his daughter and MP Supriya Sule, and his nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
In a morale-boosting gesture, at a review meeting held with all legislators and MPs of the party post the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar had told the gathering, “the assembly elections are only some 100-odd days away and we have to leave the Lok Sabha election behind."
"Sharad Pawar is the only hope the NCP has got to attempt an ideological overhaul before the assembly elections but I doubt if even he can do that given his age," said Prakash Pawar, political commentator and professor of political science at Shivaji University situated in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.
