NCP Key meet to choose Pawar's political heir underway; here's what you need to know

Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, a three-term Lok Sabha MP, is likely to bag the party's top post to stay in the national arena while her cousin Ajit Pawar may get a shot at the state unit.

Mumbai:Amid protests from the party workers, the NCP committee tasked to decide on the next party president to decide on Sharad Pawar's successor at the party office in south Mumbai, on Friday. The committee members include Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, his nephew Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, among others.

Here's what happened so far:

1. Dramatic scenes were witnessed outside the NCP party office on Friday as the meeting to decide on Sharad Pawar's succesor in the party commenced. A Sharad Pawar supporter attempted self-immolation demanding the old veteran to continue as the NCP chief. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar's resignation was unanimously rejected in the executive meeting.
2. Ajit Pawar had spoken about his chief ministerial dreams, while Sule has always said national politics interests her. Incidentally, senior NCP leader and former state minister Chhagan Bhujbal had said Sule should take up the party's national mantle and Ajit Pawar must head the state unit, though the MLA from Yeola in Nashik was quick to add that this was his personal opinion. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule was ideal for a "national role".
3. Earlier in April, Sule said that there would be "two big explosions" in the next 15 days, one in Delhi and the other in Maharashtra. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday dialed Supriya Sule and inquired from her over the latest developments in the NCP.
4. Party sources say the mantle of NCP chief is likely to remain within the Pawar family as giving the reins to someone from outside may lead to rifts and power tussles in the outfit formed in 1999. These leaders asserted Sule, a three-term LS MP, had established herself as an effective parliamentarian and has contacts with leaders of parties across the political spectrum, whereas Ajit Pawar has good hold over the state unit and is widely acknowledged as an able administrator.
5. Speaking outside the Y B Chavan Centre in the city, where his supporters have been camping to demand his continuation as the party chief, Pawar said he would take a final decision in the next couple of days and the sentiments of party workers will not be ignored.
6. "I respect your sentiments. I should have discussed my plans with all of you and taken you into confidence," the former Union minister told his supporters adding that some party colleagues from outside Maharashtra will meet him on Friday to discuss the issue and that he will take a final decision in a day or two.
7. The party cadres gathered outside the YB Chavan Centre urged Pawar to appoint a working president of the party and insisted him to continue in the post. Some said Pawar should be at the helm at least till 2024 as the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are due, while others said they would resort to hunger strike, if Pawar doesn't reconsider his decision.
8. On Tuesday, Pawar sprang a surprise by announcing his decision to step down as president of the party he founded and headed since 1999 after leaving Congress. The announcement, made at his autobiography launch event, stunned the leaders and workers of the 24-year-old party. The Rajya Sabha MP and said he was only resigning from party post and not retiring from public life.
9. Pawar's out of the blue announcement came amid speculation that his nephew Ajit and some MLAs may join hands with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, though the former deputy CM has refuted such theories and that he will die as an NCP member.
10. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Congress maintain the developments in the NCP as intra-party affair which will not have any bearing on the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which comprises the three parties. What Ajit Pawar does will have a bearing on the MVA subject to the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict on petitions related to the toppling of the Thackeray government in June last year. Observers say Ajit was unlikely to switch sides as developments since Tuesday have shown the NCP was firmly with Sharad Pawar and the former was unlikely to get the numbers to effectively split the party.