A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule that there was no split in the party, national president Sharad Pawar on Friday too said that his nephew Ajit Pawar is still the party leader and there was “no split”.
“Ajit Pawar is our leader. There is no dispute about it. What is the meaning of split? When does a split take place in a party? If a big group breaks away from the party at the national level, then it is a split. If some people have taken a different stand, it is their right in a democracy. If they have taken a different stand, it does not mean the party has split. It is their decision,” Pawar said at a press conference in Baramati.
Sule on Thursday slammed the “highly confused” state government, saying that it was stuck in policy paralysis and that there was “no split at all”.
“The party has not split at all, some took different decision of going with the BJP. We have complained to the Speaker of the Assembly for action. There is no split in the NCP. The chief of NCP is Sharad Pawar and the state unit chief is Jayant Patil. This is the reality and status of the party. NCP does not have any kind of alliance with BJP,” Sule said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
On a question of BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s claim that Pawar will join the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NCP supremo told the reporter, “Don’t ask whatever you feel like…”
On July 2, Ajit Pawar, 63, had stepped down as the leader of the Opposition, and took oath as the deputy Chief Minister of the state in the Eknath Shinde-led government. He shares the position with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. Along with Ajit Pawar, eight other leaders also followed him to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.
In 2019 too, Ajit Pawar had taken oath as the deputy CM, joining hands with the BJP. However, the alliance did not last for more than three days and he returned to the NCP as Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government was formed.
Pawar was again sworn in as the deputy CM in the MVA coalition government.