NAGPUR: NCP supremo Sharad Pawars 83rd birthday was marked by a massive show of strength at Nagpur, with grandnephew and MLA Rohit Pawar thrust into the spotlight as the partys youth face. Pawars daughter, Supriya Sule, also an NCP MP, was not present at the 30,000-strong rally that challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modis government at the Centre, and the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar trio in the state.Rohit reached Nagpur on Monday after an 800km foot march - Sangharsha Yatra - from Pune, meeting farmers and common people along the way in a re-run of the Bharat Jodo Yatra by Congress Rahul Gandhi.Addressing the gathering, Pawar senior was effusive in praise for his grandnephew, but stopped short of crowning him his successor. "Rohit covered 10 districts, 20 talukas and 600 villages and such journeys were usually undertaken by great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi or lately former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar," he said.Shiv Sena (UBT) senior leader and MP, Sanjay Raut, who was present on stage, endorsed Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar as tall leaders, while making a strong push for Rohit. "You can trust in Mothe Pawar and Chote Pawar," he said, referring to the Pawar senior and his grandnephew Rohit. Other leaders like former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and senior Congressman Digvijaya Singh and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan also batted for Rohit. The speakers one by one asked the crowd to look upon Rohit as their leader who knew the pulse of the youth.Addressing the rally, Rohit asked people not to move till a government representative came down to the protest site and listened to their problems. He was detained by the police along with other senior leaders while trying to smash barricades near Vidhan Bhavan. Rohit also evoked Marathi pride. "Its the question of the Marathi Manus pride. The Marathi Manus has not submitted before Delhi even in the past and would not in future," he said in an oblique reference to Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivajis confrontation with Aurangzeb. Rohit said, "Nobody wants divisive politics. When riots take place its only the poor who pick up the stone. Its again the poor who are hurt by a stone. Those inciting violence sit in their air-conditioned chambers."

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