Nationalist Congress Party: Sharad Pawar, the head of the Nationalist Congress Party, has expelled three party officials for attending his nephew Ajit Pawar‘s inauguration as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on Sunday. Supriya Sule, a member of the party’s Lok Sabha delegation, has also called for the dismissal of Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare for allegedly orchestrating “secretive” defections. Action taken by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the three leaders and the demand that two MPs be disqualified are considered as a warning to those who backed the dissident Ajit Pawar.
NCP Takes Swift Action Against Ajit Pawar’s Allies
Narendra Rathod, the NCP divisional president for Mumbai, Vijay Deshmukh, the district chairman for Akola City, and state minister Shivajirao Garje are the expelled leaders. All three had been present for Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony. “I write with great urgency to inform you that two MPs of NCP, namely Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, have acted in violation of our Constitution, party rules and indulged in anti-party activities by facilitating and spearheading the oath ceremony of 9 MLAs…” Ms Sule wrote in a letter to Sharad Pawar. “The fact these defections were done in such secretive manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amount to desertion of the party which in turn invites disqualification. With this, it has become abundantly clear that the said MPs no longer share the aims and ideology of the NCP,” Sule added. The nine MLAs who supported Ajit Pawar in his uprising to join forces with the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance have also been called for to be disqualified by the NCP’s disciplinary committee.
Calls for Disqualification and Sharad Pawar Vows to Forge Anti-BJP Front
NCP’s discipline committee said in a statement that, “These actions of the 9 MLAS call for immediate disqualification… if allowed to continue as members, there is a very real likelihood that they will continue to try and undermine the interests of the party.” Sharad Pawar was shocked by the abrupt change of events that ended weeks of rumours about Ajit Pawar’s upcoming political move. On Sunday at the Raj Bhawan, Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister by Governor Ramesh Bais in the presence of nine other NCP politicians, some of whom were close Sharad Pawar aides. Putting on a brave front, 83-year-old Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar labelled his nephew’s revolt a “robbery” and expressed his desire to play a significant role in an anti-BJP front in 2024. In defence of his choice to share power with the BJP, Ajit Pawar. “If we can go with the Shiv Sena, then we can go with the BJP as well. The same thing happened in Nagaland as well,” Ajit Pawar said. He insisted that the NCP, the party that his uncle created in 1999 after he left the Congress, remained unbroken.
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