Ajit Pawar steps up focus on Pune zilla parishad ahead of local body polls
Though occupied with visits to flood-affected areas in recent days, Pawar has been personally monitoring the political situation in rural Pune
With the local body elections approaching, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has shifted his attention to the Pune zilla parishad (ZP), a stronghold long dominated by his family, and is working to ensure it remains under his control.
On Friday, three local leaders — Jalindhar Kamathe, Murlidhar Nimbalkar, and Maruti Kindre — along with several workers joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction at the party’s Pune office. Welcoming them, Pawar said, “Even those who believe in our ideology should join us. We are doing citizen-centric work, and all party workers must keep people’s issues as their top priority.”
Though occupied with visits to flood-affected areas in recent days, Pawar has been personally monitoring the political situation in rural Pune. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been gradually expanding its base in the district, but Pawar is keen to ensure it does not gain a foothold in the zilla parishad, despite the fact that both parties are allies in the state government.
After the induction programme, Pawar chaired meetings with officials of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank and the Pune District Milk Producers’ Association. He directed office-bearers to maintain transparency in functioning and avoid complaints about irregularities.
While the BJP holds sway in urban centres and is perceived to have benefited from the recent ward delimitation in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, Pawar has tasked senior leaders, including Dilip Walse Patil and Dattatray Bharne, with keeping a close watch on developments in the district to safeguard his hold over rural constituencies.
