Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar, eight rebel ministers meet Sharad Pawar Mumbai: In an interesting development, rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with other expelled NCP MLAs, who were sworn in as ministers, met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai on Sunday.
All the eight ministers along with Ajit Pawar and now expelled NCP working president Praful Patel met the 82-year-old former Union Minister. The ministers, who called on senior Pawar, included Chhagan Bhujbal, Hasan Mushrif, Dilip Walse Patil, Aditi Tatkare, and Dhananjay Munde.
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"It was an unplanned meeting. When we got to know that Pawar Saahab was at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, all the newly-appointed ministers rushed here. We all came here to seek the blessings of respected Sharad Pawar. We requested Pawar Saahab that NCP should stay united. On this, Sharad Pawar did not give any reaction. He listened to our request," Praful Patel, who has backed Ajit Pawar, told reporters after the meeting.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra NCP President Jayant Patil said that the Sharad Pawar faction was not in the government. "We are not in the government, some people (from our party) have gone to the other side and they have supported the government, but we have not supported the government. There has been a division in our party, this is a fact. All of us working under the leadership of Sharad Pawar will sit with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Congress in the Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly)," Patil told reporters here.
In a significant political development in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, nephew of Sharad Pawar, orchestrated a coup in the NCP, after he joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena BJP government on July 2. Eight other expelled NCP MLAs were also sworn in as Maharashtra ministers.
This is the first time that the leaders of both factions - the one led by Sharad Pawar and the one belonging to Ajit Patil - met since the rebellion. Maharashtra politics is hotting up on all fronts with many twists and turns over the past fortnight. With a year to go for the 2024 general elections, the BJP's swift and aggressive move has kept the NCP and Uddhav faction of Shiv Sena on tenterhooks.
