Sharad Pawar keen to contest Rajya Sabha polls; merger of NCP factions unlikely: Raut

Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed that NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar wants to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, and the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will hold discussions about it.

Talking to reporters, Raut also said it is unlikely that the NCP (SP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which late deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar headed, will unite.

“I had a discussion with Sharad Pawar saheb. I asked his opinion about this (whether he will contest the Rajya Sabha polls. He told me that he will contest the Rajya Sabha polls. He has told me,” Raut said.

Raut, who is also a member of the Upper House of Parliament, said Pawar (85) is a senior lawmaker in the country with nearly 60 years of legislative experience.

Pawar has informed his position to the Congress that he wants to contest the Rajya Sabha polls, Raut said. NCP (SP), the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) are the partners in the MVA.

“Now the MVA (leaders) will sit together and have discussions on this,” he said.

Seven members, including Pawar, are retiring from the Rajya Sabha in April. MVA can potentially send one candidate to the Rajya Sabha due to its depleted strength.

Pawar has had an uninterrupted presence in either of the two Houses of the Maharashtra legislature or in Parliament since 1967.

Raut also claimed that the chances of the two NCP groups merging are slim.

Following the death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in Baramati in Pune district on January 28, Sharad Pawar had claimed that it was his late nephew’s wish to unite both NCP factions.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had virtually dismissed Sharad Pawar’s claim, saying if the merger talks were really in progress, then Ajit Pawar would have shared details with him. NCP leaders have indicated that such a unification is a remote possibility.