New Delhi: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took a dig at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar and accused the latter for remrks over his age as “sympathy attempt.”

“He has our blessings. I hope he lives till 100. He can be in politics as long as he wants. But this attempt by some of his followers to attract sympathy by highlighting his age is not right,” said Fadnavis while addressing a media conference with Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde.

The deputy CM’s remarks came after NCP chief Sahrad Pawar on Thursday replied to his nephew Ajit Pawar and said that he might be 82 or 92 but he is still effective. He reiterated yesterday that he was still the president of the NCP that he founded in 1999.

Earlier, Ajit Pawar had said that Sharad Pawar should free up the space for new generation. He said, “In other parties, leaders retire after an age. In BJP, leaders retire at 75, when are you going to stop? You should also give new people a chance. If we make mistakes, tell us. Your age is 83, will you ever stop or not? You give us blessings,” Ajit Pawar, 63.

“Everybody has his innings. The most productive years are from 25 to 75 years,” said the Junior Pawar.

The rift between the uncle-nephew started when Ajit Pawar led a group of NCP MLAs to join hands with the ruling dispensation and took oath as ministers. In a broad daylight, Ajit Pawar took supporting MLAs to Raj Bhawan and sworn-in as Deputy Chief Minister in the presence of Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde.