In a rare gathering on the occasion of Sharad Pawar’s 75th birthday the opposite leaders Modi and Rahul Gandhi shake their hands and greeted each other on dais.
Political leaders who made their presence at the birthday celebrations are right from Prime Minister Modi, President Pranab Mukherjee, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, LK Advani, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Parkash Singh Badal and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The above all occupied the dais with Pawar to wish him birthday greetings. This meeting was held at Vigyan Bhavan a place where most of the central government functions takes place.
Prime Minister praised the efforts of Pawar as, “As chief minister, Pawar was dynamic and I remember the times when Mumbai was in a vice-like grip of the underworld and it was a dark period. But Pawar did well to control this menace.”
"As agriculture minister, Sharad Rao was extremely committed and worked in a mission mode. He used to visit me when I was chief minister of Gujarat and has pushed me to improve farm productivity,” said Modi.
Sonia said,” “We may have differences but our respect for each other has been constant. Although he (Pawar) parted ways with us, NCP has been our valued ally. When UPA came to power, Sharad Pawar was a natural choice, in fact he was the only choice for the post of agriculture minister.”
Pranab Mukherjee said, “Pawarji was offered the defence portfolio when UPA came to power but he turned it down and insisted on getting the agriculture portfolio. That decision has proved to be good for the country. His birthday has given us this rare opportunity to come together from a cross-section and all I can say is 'Salaam Pawar saheb'."
