Sharad Pawar apologised to the residents of Yeola, the former’s Assembly district, for electing him as an MLA on Sunday. In response, dissident NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that if Pawar kept apologising in this way, he would have to visit many other places and express regret similarly.

At an earlier rally in Nashik’s Yeola, Sharad Pawar, who now leads the opposing NCP side as a result of the split in the party’s ranks caused by his nephew Ajit Pawar, admitted that his choice to nominate Mr. Bhujbal as the party’s candidate for the seat was unwise.

Pawar Senior remarked, “I came here to apologise to all of you (people in Yeola) for my decision to field Mr Bhujbal from Yeola).” You put your trust in me and supported my party, but my choice to choose Chhagan Bhujbal as an MLA from Yeola was a mistake.

On Monday, Mr. Bhujbal spoke to the media and said, “He (Sharad Pawar) should not have apologised as people are happy here (in Yeola).” I was chosen four times by them. If he expresses regret in this way, he will have to do so in many other areas as well.

Mr Bhujbal, a former prominent adviser to the NCP patriarch, joined the NDA cabinet of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with Sharad Pawar’s nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar as one of the 8 NCP rebels.

Ajit Pawar broke the NCP down the middle and joined the NDA administration in the state alongside 8 other MLAs and key leaders, including Bhujbal, Praful Patel, and Hasan Mushrif, causing a new political earthquake to shake Maharashtra.

His fellow dissidents were also sworn in as ministers at the same time that Ajit Pawar took the oath of office as the Shinde government’s deputy chief minister.