NCP MLA Tupe shares stage with Sharad Pawar, sparking talks of switch

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the programme, Hadapsar MLA Chetan Tupe clarified it was a non-political event

Mumbai: Speculations regarding Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators crossing over to the faction led by Sharad Pawar ahead of the assembly polls received a fresh lease of life on Sunday when the party’s Hadapsar MLA Chetan Tupe shared the stage with Pawar and several other Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders at a programme in Pune.

Chetan Vitthal Tupe, NCP, Hadapsar (Pune)

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the programme, Tupe clarified it was a non-political event. “The programme was organised by the Satara Zilla Mitra Mandal. They invited me to attend the event,” he said. MVA leaders present at the programme included former NCP (SP) MP Shrinivas Patil, former Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Mahadeo Babar, former Congress MLA Balasaheb Shivarkar, and NCP (SP) city president Prashant Jagtap.

Speculations about NCP MLAs jumping ship surfaced after the Ajit Pawar-led party faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) performed well in the polls, winning eight of the 10 seats they contested. But the NCP lost three of the four seats it contested, including the Pawar family’s pocket borough Baramati, where Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra lost to Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule.

This was followed by NCP MLA Narhari Zirwal’s son Gokul attending the NCP (SP)’s convention in Nashik last week, where he said he was ready to contest against his own father. It was Zirwal who reportedly helped Bhaskar Bhagare, NCP (SP)’s candidate from the Dindori Lok Sabha seat, defeat union minister of state Dr Bharati Pawar during the recent poll. Zirwal was also seen in one of the campaign meetings of Bhagare, though he claimed that he was invited by the villagers to attend prayers at the Hanuman temple.

On Sunday, Zirwal skipped the party meeting convened by NCP state president Sunil Tatkare in Nashik.

When asked, Tatkare said, “Zirwal was not expected to attend today’s meeting as he is holding a meeting in his own constituency.” He also stressed that all the MLAs were with the party, saying, “During the legislative council elections too, some people were making such allegations. But all our votes were intact and both our candidates were elected,” he said.

Earlier, on Saturday, former NCP MLC Babajani Durrani declared that he was returning NCP (SP), saying the NCP does not fit ideologically with the BJP and Shiv Sena and he would work for the senior Pawar in future.

Former MP and union minister Suryakanta Patil also returned to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) last month. Prior to the Lok Sabha polls, NCP’s Parner MLA Nilesh Lanke had left the party and successfully contested the election as NCP (SP) candidate from Ahmednagar.