Gautam Adani was invited as chief guest to inaugurate the centre by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and shared the dais with the latter on the occasion. Pawar had extended the invitation to Gautam Adani and nuclear physicist Anil Kakodkar.
-Adani group chairman and billionaire businessman Gautam Adani and his wife Priti Adani on Thursday visited Baramati for the inauguration of the Rajiv Gandhi Science and Innovation and Activity centre established by the Baramati Agricultural Trust with help from the state government.
BARAMATI (Maharashtra): The Pawar family hosted on Thursday billionaire Gautam Adani at Baramati in Pune—the Pawars’ bastion and nerve-centre of social and political activities. Adani, founder of Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, shared a stage with Nationalist Congress Party founder-president Sharad Pawar, one of the senior-most politicians in India during the day.
Adani’s engagements in Baramati included inauguration of a science park at the Agricultural Development Trust.
The entire Pawar clan, including the octogenarian’s nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule, and his grand-nephew Rohit Pawar were present for the day-long engagement.
In fact, Rohit, who is the MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed, received Adani at the airport and drove the Adani conglomerate head himself to the venue. Baramati, located over a 100 km from Pune city, is known for its agriculture, industries and social initiatives.
The Pawar family has been representing Baramati in state and central legislative bodies—Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha—for about 55 years, a record of sorts in Indian politics.
Ajit is an MLA from Baramati, while Supriya is a Member of Parliament from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. The NCP founder, too, has represented Baramati, both as an MLA and an MP.
State deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, MP Supriya Sule and scientists from various states and national-level institutes were present on the occasion. Although the master of ceremonies announced chief guest Gautam Adani’s name to deliver the speech, he avoided addressing the gathering. Sule, Kakodkar, Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar addressed the school students as part of the programme.
Sule said, “Upon our invitation, Gautam Adani and his wife came to inaugurate the centre and planetarium. But this is not his first visit to Baramati. The Pawar family and the Adanis have maintained cordial relations for the last 25 years and every Diwali, Gautam Adani would visit Baramati to meet Sharad Pawar.”
Sharad Pawar said, “For achieving progress in any field, there is a need for support from the scientific community. Today, human beings are scaling the moon which is possible only because of science and technology.”
Kakodkar said, “We had proposed six such science innovation centres in Maharashtra, and Baramati is one of them. To encourage a scientific temperament, there is need for such centres in rural areas and in every district to attract students towards science.”
Ajit Pawar said, “The Maharashtra government has approved six science innovation centres and I, being in charge of the finance ministry, have made budgetary provision for it. But as suggested by Kakodar, I would ensure that such science innovation centres come up in every district. I will make budgetary provision for the same during the next budget.”
