Pune, Mar 4 (PTI) Political parties field celebrities in elections if they find opposing candidates undefeatable, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Miniter Ajit Pawar said on Monday, taking a dig at actor and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Amol Kolhe.
Kolhe, later in the day, hit back saying he had won the ‘Sansad Ratna’ award three times for his parliamentary stint and also took a swipe at Raigad MP Sunil Tatkare, who is the state unit chief of Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.
Addressing a farmers’ meet at Kolhe’s constituency Shirur in Pune district, Pawar said politics was not the MP’s forte as he had offered to resign two years into his term.
“I had brought in Kolhe from another party and gave him a ticket, and with NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil, took the responsibility of ensuring his victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. We initially found Kolhe promising, but in two years, he came to me and offered to resign, citing that his acting career was getting affected,” the deputy chief minister said.
People have questioned Kolhe’s visibility in the constituency in the last four years, Pawar said.
If political parties find a particular opposing candidate undefeatable, they rope in celebrities for their mass appeal, he said.
“Actress Hema Malini contests elections and wins. Actors Sunny Deol and Govinda were also fielded in some places. Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, and Amitabh Bachchan have also contested elections. What connection do celebrities have with politics?” Pawar said.
The BJP fielded Hema Malini from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, while Sunny Deol is the party’s MP in Gurdaspur, Punjab. Sinha is Trinamool Congress MP from West Bengal’s Asansol.
“The point is whether celebrities are keen on doing development works in their areas. People find celebrities promising and vote for them. We (politicians) are also at fault for roping them in without knowing their capabilities,” he said.
Hitting back, the Shirur MP, in a video message, said, “The Deputy Chief Minister made some remarks against me. He himself is a big leader and to make any comments against him is not right but he made some personal statements on me. I humbly want to answer about that ‘celebrity’ comment Ajit Dada said today.” Kolhe said he had won the ‘Sansad Ratna’ award three times for effectively raising the issues of his constituency in Parliament.
“An MP from Raigad constituency is your state unit president. I am much better than him when it comes to parliamentary work,” Kolhe further said in a swipe at Tatkare. PTI SPK COR ARU BNM
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