A seasoned politician, Sharad Pawar recently commented on being granted ‘Z plus’ security earlier in the week. He speculated that this might be a strategy to gather genuine information about him, especially with the Maharashtra assembly elections on the horizon.

The government led by Narendra Modi provided Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), with ‘Z plus’ security on August 21. When questioned about the sudden enhancement in his security detail, the 83-year-old shared with reporters in Navi Mumbai that he was clueless about the reasoning behind it.

He recounted a conversation with a Home Ministry official who informed him that the government had decided to bestow Z plus security on three individuals, including himself.

The official mentioned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the other recipients. Pawar humorously suggested that this decision might be linked to the upcoming elections, aiming to obtain authentic insights about him.

A contingent of 55 armed CRPF personnel has been assigned to Pawar as part of this security arrangement. After a threat assessment review, central agencies advised a robust security arrangement for him. In India, VIP security is classified into different levels, starting from the most protective ‘Z’ and continuing with ‘Y’ and ‘X’.

Sharad Pawar helms the NCP (SP), a vital component of the opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which consists also of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress.

This coalition had an impressive showing in the recent Lok Sabha elections, securing 30 out of 48 seats in the state, leaving the ruling Mahayuti alliance of BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP with only 17 seats.

The elections for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly are expected to occur in October-November.

In unrelated news, Pawar expressed his dissatisfaction with the Bombay High Court’s stance on the Maharashtra Bandh, called by the MVA for August 24 in response to the Badlapur sexual assault incident.

The Bombay High Court, on August 23, indicated its intention to ask political parties and individuals to refrain from enforcing the bandh, a decision Pawar critiqued as beyond the scope of the Indian Constitution.

Due to time constraints for appealing to the Supreme Court, he urged the strike to be called off.