Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has no immediate plans of retirement from active politics, notwithstanding his recent remarks in this regard that have, as expected, raised a lot of interest in poll-bound Maharashtra.

Pawar’s daughter and NCP MP Supriya Sule ruled out the possibility of her father’s retirement in the immediate future and termed reports to this effect as mere “media excitement”. “It (retirement) is a nice thing though. By the time his term (in the Lok Sabha) finishes, he will be 74. It is fair enough if he decides to retire then. He will always be there to guide us. But he never said he was retiring after these Assembly elections. He was talking about the process of the next 3-4 years,” she said.

Addressing an election rally at Solapur on Sunday, Pawar was quoted as saying, “It is time for the younger generation to play a greater role and for me to slowly step back. Isn’t that a good idea?” While the 69 years old leader clarified later that he would complete his five-year term, the speculation has refused to die with Pawar continuing to field queries about his successor.

Pawar’s remarks are being viewed in political circles as an attempt to woo young voters at a time when the Congress looked set to encash the growing appeal of AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi among the youth in Maharashtra election.

“It has been proved beyond doubt in recent elections that the youth look up to Rahul Gandhi for realisation of their dreams. With Rahulji attracting the broad-minded, forward-looking youth and Raj Thackeray (of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) also possibly coopting a small and fringe section of the youth, who were earlier inclined to Shiv Sena, the NCP finds itself out of the reckoning for this crucial votebank. That, besides hopes of sympathy factor, probably explains Pawar’s remarks about retirement,” a senior Congress leader involved in Maharashtra said.

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