Genre: News > India Election 2009

Apr 3, 2009: NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday skipped the Third Front rally in Bhubaneswar, where he was to suppose to share the dais with CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat.

 

Technical snag in the aircraft, in which Pawar was supposed to travel from Nashik to Bhubaneswar, was cited as the reason for his absence.

 

Meanwhile, Pawar clarified that he had no plans to join the Third Front and had an electoral alliance with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) only in Orissa.

 

He reiterated that his party was with UPA.

 

Pawar said he would extend support to Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, but not to RJD as NCP and Congress were fighting elections together in Bihar.

 

Pawar's move to share dais with Left leader Karat, had raised many an eyebrow and had irked Congress.

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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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