Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday claimed that the recent 2024 Lok Sabha election results show that the people chose to prevent power from being consolidated in the hands of one or two people.
Addressing party workers in Pune on the NCP’s 25th anniversary, Pawar claimed that the BJP would have found it difficult to win the 272-seat majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha without the help of partners like Nitish’s JD(U). Kumar. and N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party.
Pawar highlighted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 293 seats, but the BJP’s numbers had declined from five years earlier, indicating a smaller majority in Parliament. He noted that the administration had been governed by only one or two people, concentrating on centralizing power.
He emphasized that the people’s vote was a move to decentralize power, signaling the beginning of a shift toward a broader administrative approach.
“The reins of the government are in the hands of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, but looking at the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the mandate of the people is not of their convenience. Compared to the seats they won five ago years, their numbers this time their strength and their majority in Parliament have been reduced,” he stated. Pawar added: “Had they not received support from JD(U) and Telugu Desam Party and other allies in Andhra Pradesh, it would have been difficult for them to achieve a majority.”
“In the past five years, only one or two people ran the government according to their will and did not think about the country from a broader perspective and emphasized the centralization of power. But fortunately, the people of the country, anticipating the situation ahead , we vote in a way that puts a stop to power being in the hands of one or two people,” he said.
And he added: “Although there has not been a complete decentralization of power, a process has been initiated to have an administration that will follow the path of decentralization of power.”
During the occasion, Pawar also urged NCP members to prepare for the impending Maharashtra assembly elections, expressing confidence that they will soon be in control of the state.
On the founding day of the party, Pawar hoisted the NCP flag in the presence of Baramati NCP (SP) MP and his daughter Supriya Sule, as well as other leaders and workers.
“In the last 25 years, we have worked to spread the ideology of the party and we will carry it forward with all our might. Now it is my collective responsibility and yours to work and aspire for the state assembly elections so that after the elections results, The power will be in your hands and we will ensure that the use of power is for the common people and for those who are marginalized,” said the PNC founder.
The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999 after splitting from the Congress, had internal divisions last year when Ajit Pawar and other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition. In February, the Election Commission accepted Ajit Pawar’s camp as the legitimate NCP and assigned it the party emblem, while Sharad Pawar’s faction got a new symbol to participate in future elections.