BJP caused an NCP split, no question of a draw after the elections: Supriya Sule | India News – Times of India

PUNE: Ideological differences won’t come in the way of Baramati MP Supriya Sule from befriending politicians across party lines, but the NCP (SCP) president is clear when she says she doesn’t trust the BJP’s senior leadership , both at the Center and in Parliament. in the state.
In an exclusive interview with TOI on Friday, Supriya ruled out any alliance with the BJP, saying the party leadership has attacked the reputation of the NCP and engineered its split.
Speaking about a faction of NCP MLAs who, along with her cousin, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, have joined the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state, Supriya said some party members switched sides fearing action from the directorate Income tax, CBI and Enforcement. . “After seeing how things developed, my admiration for Anil Deshmukh (NCP SCP leader) and Sanjay Raut (Sena UBT leader) increased. Despite being in jail, they stood firm and did not give in to pressure,” Supriya added. Recalling her meeting with some NCP ‘rebels’ at the Devgiri bungalow, Ajit Pawar’s official residence in Mumbai, just before her cousin and the others took oath on July 2, 2023, Supriya said six current ministers of the party of Ajit Pawar had denied that they were joining Mahayuti when they spoke to her.
“I spoke to at least 20 people. I kept asking them but no one was honest with me. They kept denying that they had joined Mahayuti. There were six senior MLAs among these 20 who later took oath,” she said .
This is Supriya’s first parliamentary election as her party’s working president after the NCP split. With just ten days of campaigning, she visited seven constituencies on Friday, where she took part in rallies, marches and rallies to campaign for MVA candidates in Pune.
She said, “I have traveled to different districts and the response to MVA has been quite good. People are suffering from inflation, unemployment, rising crime and the agricultural crisis. But this government is engaged in vendetta politics that people in the Lok reject. Sabha poll, and will do the same in the Assembly elections.” On the possibility of an alliance with the BJP, Supriya said those who left the party were pressuring party chief Sharad Pawar to join the party, but he chose to not to go with them.
She said, “Before switching sides, those members pursued Pawar Saheb to join hands with the BJP. However, he was clear from the start that he would not join them and told them that they had to make their own decisions. We also have disagreements with them on some serious policy issues.”
The NCP (SCP) working president said, “Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis have failed the country and the state. They have leveled serious allegations against us and called the NCP Naturally Corrupt Party. They tried to tarnish our reputation, and then they took half of our party away. Now they will have to decide which NCP to align with: the Nationalist Congress Party or the Naturally Corrupt Party.”
The MP also alleged that the BJP was not sparing her family members. “The homes of my cousins ​​Vijaya Patil, Neeta Patil and Rajani Indulkar have been raided by central agencies. They have no connection with politics, but this is how the invisible power works, which uses agencies to create fear in people’s minds. “
She said her father is a fighter. “When he was threatened with an emergency room, he stood up and said, ‘I’m coming to you instead of you coming to my house.’ Everyone deals with issues in different ways. There is a lot to say, but there is no need to put it all out there publicly,” she said.
On her possibility of becoming chief minister, a position her father held four times, Supriya said, “Our politics are very different. If I and Ajit Pawar have to compare ourselves with him (Pawar), we will have to cry into our pillows. At least Ajit Pawar has publicly accepted that he aspires to become CM. As far as I am concerned, apart from a Lok Sabha ticket, I have not asked for anything.”