Vijay Shivtare Initiates Political Manoeuvres Against Ajit Pawar; Meets Harshavardhan Patil Today Ahead of Baramati Battle

Pune: Over the anger of being criticised and publicly humiliated by Ajit Pawar in one of the election campaigns for the state assembly election in 2019, the ex-MLA and leader of the Shiv Sena Shinde group, Vijay Shivtare, has been gearing up to take his revenge. In order to exploit every opportunity to settle the score with Ajit Pawar, Shivtare is not leaving any stone untouched.

Shivtare has made up his mind to contest the upcoming Baramati Lok Sabha election to take on the Pawar family, especially Ajit Pawar. For this, Shivtare has publicly started meeting the opponents of Ajit Pawar in order to gain their support. A few days ago, he met a long-standing rival of the Pawar family, Anantrao Thopte, and his son, Sangram Thopte, in Bhor Taluka. Similarly, today he is also meeting an ex-MLA from Indapur Taluka, Harshavardhan Patil.

However, as Shivtare is in Shinde’s Shiv Sena, which is part of the Mahayuti alliance, the pressure is mounting on Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to take action against Shivtare for his anti-party activities.

Earlier, when asked about Shivtare, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took a cautious stand and refused to comment more on the topic in order to not further deteriorate the situation in Mahayuti. However, meanwhile, he also met Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde and complained about Shivtare’s possible rebellion in Baramati.

After this, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde called Shivtare and attempted to counsel him. However, determined by his decision to contest the Lok Sabha election, Shivtare has started openly conducting rallies and meetings. There are reports that Shiv Sena will take action against Shivtare for his anti-party activities. However, no such action has been taken against him yet.

Meanwhile, Shivtare is expected to meet Harshavardhan Patil, one more political rival of Ajit Pawar, today. Harshavardhan Patil is also a staunch opponent of Ajit Pawar, and it was learned that he had been preparing to field his daughter for the Lok Sabha elections. However, after Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti alliance with the BJP, Patil was also feeling uneasiness.

A few days ago, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called Harshavardhan Patil, listened to his complaints, and promised him a possible solution to his issues. In this meeting, Harshavardhan Patil demanded a meeting with Ajit Pawar and wanted a personal guarantee from him. Amidst this, it is expected to see what will happen in the meeting between Shivtare and Harshavardhan Patil.

When asked about the possible action against him for his anti-party activities, Shivtare said, “For the past few days, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been constantly worried about mounting pressure on him to take action against me. I can understand his situation. He and I have had a close relationship for the past 25 years, and it will not detriment because of any issue. Therefore, if the situation arises, I myself will resign from the party.”