The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) received a serious jolt after Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, broke away from the senior Pawar-led NCP and entered into an alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led government, claiming the support of 40 MLAs. Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as the deputy CM on Sunday, and he shares the position with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Soon, NCP Maharashtra president Jayant Patil of the Sharad Pawar faction made a petition to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking the disqualification of nine party leaders, including Ajit Pawar. With this, the ball is now in the court of Narwekar who needs to decide on the disqualification. However, the NCP-turned-BJP leader is not one of those who takes quick decisions, as history shows.
Narwekar, who was also with Shiv Sena earlier, for a year now, has not acted on a petition moved by the Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction against the 16 MLAs who defected to the Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena camp and formed the government, despite a Supreme Court order.
A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on May 11 had refused to interfere in the disqualification proceedings against the 16 Sena MLAs, saying the Speaker must decide on the issue.
With the whole play-by-play recap of the episodes of the Shiv Sena earlier and now the NCP drama, Narwekar has emerged as the most key player who now holds the thread of both the government and the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.
Who is Rahul Narwekar?
At the age of 46, Narwekar is a first-time MLA from the Colaba constituency in South Mumbai. The BJP named him as the Speaker soon after it formed the government with the Shinde Sena faction. Interestingly, he was picked up over more senior and experienced names.
Narwekar’s choice was also a surprise as he is relatively new in the BJP, and joined the saffron party in the run-up to the October 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Following a 15-year-long stint with the Shiv Sena, Narwekar had quit Shiv Sena after the party denied him a state Legislative Council seat, reported The Indian Express.
Narwekar, an advocate by profession, later joined the NCP. He had contested from the Maval constituency for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, from where he was defeated. Later, he moved to BJP in 2019 and won the Colaba seat.
Narwekar’s family history
Narwekar’s father Suresh Narwekar was a councillor in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). He is the son-in-law of senior NCP leader Ramraje Nimbalkar, who is a former chairman of the Legislative Council.
His brother Makarand and sister-in-law are also councillors in the BMC.