PUNE: The Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and National President of the NCP, Ajit Pawar, said on Friday that the dissatisfaction among onion growers contributed to the ruling Mahayuti's poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Ajit Pawar said, "When we were in Delhi recently for 3-4 days, we spoke with Piyush Goyal, Amit Shah and other senior leaders about it and discussed how issues related to onion prices have impacted us in the election. There was big dissatisfaction among onion farmers and we paid the price for it in the Lok Sabha election."
"We were continuously telling the Centre that we needed to do something that benefited both producers and consumers. It was our long-standing demand that something be done to benefit both producers and consumers of the onion. What I understand is that now our demand has been considered," he added.
He also expressed the importance of the onion issues in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls and said, "During the Lok Sabha election, if you see in North Maharashtra except Raver and Jalgaon, we have suffered losses. Onion producers are mainly based in Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Solapur. Therefore, issues related to onion prices must be resolved."
When asked about his views on the decision taken by the central government to shut down NAFED and transfer all its rights to the Ministry of Commerce, Pawar said, "I can speak about it only after getting full details."
Ajit Pawar also reacted to the comments made in RSS mouthpiece magazine 'Organiser' about NCP.
"I don't want to comment on it. You ask me about me. A lot of people are making comments after the result. Everyone has the right to comment in a democracy, but I don't want to make any comments about it. Ask me about development only. I am focused on it. I will go into the upcoming election with new hope as Mahayuti," he said.
An article in the latest issue of 'Organiser' magazine, which is linked to the RSS, said Maharashtra is a prime example of unnecessary politicking and avoidable manipulations, and the BJP reduced its value by joining hands with the NCP (Ajit Pawar).
The BJP had won nine of the 29 seats it fought for, while its 'Mahayuti' ally, Ajit Pawar's NCP, bagged only one of the four seats it was allotted in the recently concluded parliamentary election.
Maharashtra is the second-largest state in terms of Lok Sabha constituencies, with 48 seats. It went to the polls across five phases on April 19 and 26 and on May 7, 13, and 20.
The NDA, comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, won 17 seats in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.