Pune, Sep 8 (PTI) Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Ajit Pawar on Thursday questioned the credibility of Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, and termed as "table talk" his recent statement that his party would wrest the Baramati seat in the 2024 elections.

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Bawankule, who was appointed as the BJP's state unit head last month, on Tuesday said the ruling saffron party and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena combine will win more than 45 out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, including Baramati - the pocket borough of Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar - in the next general polls.

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Replying to a question over his statement, Pawar said, "These are just table talks. He (Bawankule) has just been given the new responsibility. That person was denied a ticket (by the BJP) during the 2019 state elections and his wife's candidature, too, was taken away at the last moment...This is his credibility in the party and such people should make such claims!"

The senior NCP leader sarcastically added that now he and his cousin Supriya Sule, who is MP from Baramati, will now have to find a new constituency somewhere else to fight the upcoming elections. "We will ask them (BJP leaders) from where we should contest," he added.

Pawar said that no importance should be given to such statements as it is the voters who ultimately elect a candidate.

Baramati in Pune district has been the stronghold of Sharad Pawar who had represented the constituency multiple times, including his days in the Indian National Congress. His daughter Supriya Sule is the sitting MP, while Ajit Pawar, who is his nephew, is the MLA.

On Wednesday, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court said it will hear on September 27, an application of Uddhav Thackeray-led faction seeking to restrain the Election Commission from deciding on the claim of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led group over the "original" Shiv Sena party.

Asked in whose favour the decision of the Supreme Court will go on September 27 on the Maharashtra politics crisis, Pawar said that as per the legal and constitutional experts, the decision should go in favour of Uddhav Thackeray.

"But 'tarikh pe tarikh' (repeated adjournments) is happening and I have no idea whether the decision will be made on September 27 or the matter will be posted for another date," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)