Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Ajit Pawar expressed disapproval about Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge's venomous snake jibe about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Asked about Kharge's controversial comment, Pawar recalled how Yashwantrao Chavan, the first chief minister of Maharashtra, handled criticism with maturity.
Addressing a campaign rally in poll-bound Karnataka, Kharge on Thursday likened Modi to a venomous snake. As a row erupted, he clarified that his remarks were not aimed at the Prime Minister but at the ruling BJP. Asked about the row, Pawar said Yashwantrao Chavan showed maturity when writer-journalist P K Atre took swipes at him.
Today Narendra Modi is our prime minister. Before that there were Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It does not feel right to make such a statement about the prime minister of the country or chief minister of the state, he said.
Incidentally, speculation was rife in Maharashtra for the last two weeks about Ajit Pawar's political plans as he appeared to be going soft on the BJP. Pawar, though, stressed that he would never leave the NCP.