Sharad Pawar: Lok Sabha poll results reflect people's check on centralised power

Nationalist Congress PartySharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar claimed on Monday that the recent Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 show that the people chose to prevent power from being consolidated in the hands of one or two personsAddressing party workers in Pune on the NCPs 25th anniversary Pawar stated that the BJP would have struggled to win the majority of 272 seats in the 543member Lok Sabha without the help of partners such as Nitish Kumars JDU and N Chandrababu Naidus Telugu Desam PartyPawar underlined that the BJPled National Democratic Alliance won 293 seats but the BJPs numbers had dropped from five years earlier indicating a smaller majority in Parliament He pointed out that the administration had been governed by only one or two people with a concentration on centralising powerHe emphasised that the peoples vote was a move to decentralise power signalling the beginning of a shift towards a broader administrative approachThe governments reins are in the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but looking at the Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 the peoples mandate is not of their convenience Compared to the seats they won five years ago their numbers have reduced this time Their strength and majority in Parliament have reduced he said Pawar added Had they not received the support of JDU and Telugu Desam Party and other allies in Andhra Pradesh it would have been difficult for them to achieve the majority markIn the last five years only one or two persons ran the government as per their will and they did not think about the country from a broader perspective and emphasised the centralisation of power But fortunately the people of the country anticipating the situation ahead voted in a way to put a check on power being in the hands of one or two persons he saidHe added Though there has not been a complete decentralisation of power a process has begun of having an administration which will go on the path of decentralisation of powerDuring the occasion Pawar also exhorted NCP members to prepare for the impending Maharashtra assembly elections expressing confidence that control in the state will soon be theirsOn the partys founding day Pawar hoisted the NCP flag in the presence of NCP SP MP from Baramati and daughter Supriya Sule as well as other leaders and workersIn the last 25 years we worked towards spreading the partys ideology and we will take the party ahead with all our might Now it is my and your collective responsibility to work and aim for the state assembly elections so that after the poll results power will be in your hands and we will ensure the use of power will be for the common people and those who are marginalised the NCP founder saidThe NCP founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999 after breaking from the Congress had internal divisions last year when Ajit Pawar and other MLAs joined the Shiv SenaBJP coalition In February the Election Commission accepted the Ajit Pawar side as the legitimate NCP and assigned them the party emblem while the Sharad Pawar faction obtained a new symbol to contest future elections