Both meetings of NCP factions turn into displays off of strength

An auditorium with a capacity of 600 people saw more than double that number of people with hundreds of them even sitting and standing on the stage. The other three halls inside the building also were filled with party workers who were also in the premises and outside the YB Chavan Centre.

Mumbai: The showdown between Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar to take control of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led to two separate meetings on the same day at two different locations that also turned out into a show of strength from them.

Mumbai, India - July 5, 2023: Ajit Pawar supporters filling registration form before starting meeting at MET, Bandra, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

While Pawar and his supporters gathered at YB Chavan Centre at Nariman Point for a tour de force, workers and leaders too flocked to MET, Bandra to display their strength in a fight for political dominance.

An auditorium with a capacity of 600 people saw more than double that number of people with hundreds of them even sitting and standing on the stage.

The other three halls inside the building also were filled with party workers who were also in the premises and outside the YB Chavan Centre.

Prashant Jagtap, who came from Pune, said that they were with Pawar and will continue to stand with the old guard.

“Pune city is the bastion of Pawar and will remain with him forever,” Jagtap said, who is NCP chief of Pune city.

The party workers gathered at YB Centre Centre hours before the meeting and raised slogans supporting the party patriarch. The atmosphere inside the auditorium was spirited and occasionally emotional during the entire meeting.

In contrast, NCP workers and leaders flocked to MET for Ajit’s first rally after his rebellion appeared to be in two minds. Most of them had come from districts like Pune, Kolhapur, Raigad, Nashik, Beed, the districts represented by the heavyweight leaders from the faction and were not able to decide if the split was right.

Nandkumar Patil, a party worker who had come with his 25 fellow workers, said that the split has not gone down well with the people at local level.

“It is true that people do not like it. Even we have not been able to decide to side with them. I have come in charge of our constituency and since Sunil Tatkare who is leader of our district is with Ajit Pawar, we have come here,” he said.

Some of the party workers that had come from western Maharashtra said that Ajit Pawar had no option but to leave as the party chief Sharad Pawar was surrounded with a coterie of leaders who were against Ajit.

Another party worker who had come from Sonpeth in Parbhani said that the people at local level are confused and in two minds.

“We have decided to go along with Ajit based on the local equations. I was in Shiv Sena for over 10 years until I joined the NCP in 2019. I was deputy chairman in Panchayat Samiti. The split has not gone well with people and even among workers and that is expected to be witnessed in the forthcoming elections,” he said on the condition of anonymity.

The Ajit Pawar faction had put up stalls on the sidelines of the rally to sign the affidavits from the party office bearers from various districts. Over 5000 affidavits were signed by the office bearers from the Ajit Pawar faction on Wednesday. The affidavits are considered important for the claim on the party during the legal battle before the election commission of India or the court.