Sharad Pawar's Rebuttal To Nephew's Show Of Strength: 'Repeat Of What Happened To Uddhav Thackeray'

The political crisis in Maharashtra has once again taken a dramatic shift as Ajit Pawar, the new deputy chief minister alongside Devendra Fadnavis, staked claim to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) symbol as he raced ahead of Uncle Sharad Pawar with an apparent majority of party MLAs on his side. The veteran politician and founder of NCP, however, has decided not to back down. 

The Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar factions held parallel meetings in Mumbai today. Hitting out the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in Delhi, which is said to be behind the appointment of Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar questioned the sudden alliance with NCP when they called the party corrupt. 

“You (BJP) called the NCP corrupt. So, why have you allied with the NCP now? Whatever happened to Uddhav Thackeray has been repeated now,” the NCP founder said at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, where their faction has gathered for a show of hands.

"Ajit Pawar should have spoken to me if he had any problems. If he had something on his mind he could have approached me,"  he said. 

NCP MLAs who are with party president Sharad Pawar signed affidavits to show their loyalty towards him.

NCP’s working president and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule also hit out at her cousin saying, “Sharad Pawar is not only my father but also the father figure for all NCP workers. Nobody should pass any derogatory remarks about my father or my family.”

“Only one party is corrupt, which is the BJP… We will rebuild our party,” she asserted.

NCP MLA Rohit Pawar, voicing support for Sharad Pawar, said, "Parties are not run by leaders but by workers, by ideology. Pawar Saheb kept an ideology intact for 60 years. Workers are working with that ideology. People will lose their faith in you if you keep changing your ideology."

The NCP had moved a petition before Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs who have taken oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led government.

As many as 29 of 53 NCP MLAs were present at the party meeting convened by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar at Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra. The party veteran, on the other hand, managed only 17 MLAs on his side despite a whip and appeal about "an 83-year-old fighting alone".

Addressing his supporters, Ajit Pawar said that his goal was to become Maharashtra chief minister. He slammed Sharad Pawar for not handing over the party’s control even at 83, while also seeking his blessings and saying he has “deep respect” for the NCP chief. 

Sharad Pawar's Point-By-Point Rebuttal

In response to Ajit Pawar's "when will you quit" jibe, NCP founder Sharad Pawar warned the defectors that every single ally of the BJP has eventually faced "political destruction" and they will also meet the same fate.

“Those who join hands with the BJP and share power get politically destroyed eventually. To steadily weaken its political allies is the BJP's policy. There are enough examples of this in other states," Sharad Pawar said. 

“Akali Dal was with the BJP for many years, but now it is nowhere. A similar situation unfolded in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar realised it and switched to an alliance with the RJD,” the NCP president said.

“Those who have gone with the BJP now should not think that something different will happen," he added. 

Sharad Pawar Faction’s Caveat To EC

The Election Commission has reportedly received a caveat from Jayant Patil, the state president of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, informing them of the disqualification process against nine MLAs who joined the Shinde government with Ajit Pawar. According to an ANI report, action will be taken by the poll panel as per the extant legal framework.

Pawar also objected to the Ajit Pawar faction using his photograph on their banners.

“If they have gone there, why are they using my photo? I will not let our symbol and party name fall into their hands,” he said.

Earlier today, NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s supporters thronged his residence in south Mumbai on Wednesday, hours ahead of the show of strength meetings convened by him and his nephew Ajit Pawar who has parted ways to join the Shiv Sena-BJP government and become Maharashtra deputy chief minister.

Earlier this week, Pawar removed the party's working president Praful Patel and general secretary Sunil Tatkare for engaging in "anti-party” activities after they attended the swearing-in ceremony of Ajit Pawar.

The Ajit Pawar camp has, in turn, asked the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad from membership of the House. Patel on Monday ‘appointed’ Ajit Pawar as the leader of the NCP legislature party and Sunil Tatkare as the president of the state NCP unit.