Genre: News > India Election 2009

March 17, 2009: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said people wanted to see him as Prime Minister, but added that he was aware of the fact that one cannot become PM with limited number of MPs.

The NCP president said it was difficult for a single party to form government and therefore secular parties needed to come together to keep communal forces at bay.

Pawar slammed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying the image of the state that was known as Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace was tarnished after incidents like Godhra massacre.

Modi, during an election rally in Pune on Sunday, came down heavily on Pawar and the latter's ambitions of becoming first Maharashtrian to clinch PM's post.

The CM had sarcastically said, if the Maratha strongman had any substance, he should have at least seen to it that a Maharashtrian becomes captain of the Indian cricket team.

Reacting to it, Pawar said Sachin Tendulkar was offered India cricket squad captaincy after Rahul Dravid stepped down. But Tendulkar refused to head the side and in stead suggested M S Dhoni's name saying the team leadership should be given to youngsters, added Pawar. 

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Background

Sharad Pawar is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he founded in 1999.

 

He first became a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1967 from the Congress ticket.

 

Pawar, who hails from Baramati town in the Pune district of Maharashtra, is the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the UPA government.

 

He also served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during 2005-2008.

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