This is the first election where you are at the opposite camp of Sharad Pawar. He is targeting you; are you feeling the heat of his attack?

This is just like any other election in my 40 years political life. When we decided to stand against him, we were prepared to do so with full force.

Just four months back, Mahayuti faced a debacle. Do you believe the situation has improved in since then?

Yes, definitely. The fake narrative of the Lok Sabha election is not making a comeback despite Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) attempts. We have corrected our mistakes. For instance, there was the onion ban. We suffered a lot because of this in north Maharashtra. After the Lok Sabha election, the ban was lifted and farmers are getting a fair price. The “400 paar” slogan met with the allegations of Constitutional change and the formation of a Hindu Rashtra. I cannot comment on the defeat in Uttar Pradesh, but in Maharashtra, the backward class believed the propaganda of the opposition. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) agitation led minorities to believe that they will be thrown out of the country. The opposition successfully made people believe that we needed 400 seats to do all this. After results all these fears have turned baseless and issues no longer matter.

Despite this experience, why is it that your ally BJP is raising slogans such as “vote jehad” or “batenge to katenge”?

We as NCP has already made our stand clear. We are opposing it. North India may accept this, but not Maharashtra. We have people with different backgrounds in our State. I am of the opinion that such things should not be said. We belong to the ideology of Shiv (Chhatrapati Shivaji), Shahu (Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj), Phule (Mahatma Phule) and Ambedkar and only this ideology can take Maharashtra forward.

But senior BJP leaders including Modi, Yogi Adityanath, and Devendra Fadnavis are the ones saying this. What would you tell them?

Modi never said this. Don’t twist his words. “sabka sath, sabka vikas” is the motto of the Central government. “ek hai toh safe hai” is exactly on this line. He is asking everyone to remain united. Your interpretation is different, ours is different.

Will the rebels lead to a large number of independents getting elected?

Last time such a thing happened was in 1995. But then, there was internal rebellion within the Congress. This time, we decided seats on the basis of the strength of the candidates and even we exchanged candidates. So, I don’t think independents will get a large number of seats.

Don’t you think contesting on fewer seats will dilute the possibility of you becoming a Chief Minister?

Don’t drag me into yet another controversy. For your information, there are people who have become Prime Ministers or Chief Ministers with a strength of 40 legislators behind them. But I am not going to comment on anything. People like Nawab Malik have said that I will be a key player, but I do not want to comment on it. We three will sit together after the results and the Chief Minister will be finalised.

If situation demands, will you join hands with Sharad Pawar after the election results?

There is absolutely no possibility of it. In any case, there is no comeback now.

Are you confident about Baramati? Because in the Lok Sabha election, your wife was trailing in this Assembly segment. This time, your nephew is contesting against you.

Our family is divided on this. As per my study, the voters of Baramati chose Pawar sahib (Sharad Pawar) for the Lok Sabha by electing Supriya (Sule). For the Assembly, I am always among the voters and work for them. I am not somebody who is coming in just for the election. They (voters) see, know and acknowledge my work. I have full confidence that I will win Baramati and as Mahayuti we will win more than 175 seats across Maharashtra.

Maratha activists like Manoj Jarange-Patil have given a call to defeat certain candidates of Mahayuti. How do you see it?

That’s his democratic right. Ultimately, people will decide and vote.

Is an OBC consolidation happening on the other side in Mahayuti’s favour?

Maharashtra has largely avoided voting on caste consolidations. There was a time when BJP had stalwarts like Gopinath Munde and Anna Dange who led to the consolidation of the Vanjari community. But I don’t see that happening to that extent now.

What is your plan to calm farmers agitated over falling prices of soybean and cotton?

We helped farmers by announcing Rs. 5,000 per ha. There are two sides to the coin. If we increase soybean prices, the oil will get costlier. If that happens, you will cry about inflation. The same thing happened with milk farmers. We have spoken to the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has assured us that we will find a way after the code of conduct is lifted.