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Ajit Pawar faction of NCP to buy 70 cars for office bearers
The Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra is buying around 70 cars for its office bearers. The cars will be given to district and city presidents and are intended to help them reach out to people and promote the party's objectives. The faction has chosen two cars from Mahindra and Mahindra, with prices ranging from INR 10 lakh to INR 22 lakh. This move is seen as part of Ajit Pawar's efforts to strengthen his faction and establish it as the "real NCP".
MUMBAI: After the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Ajit Pawar faction has decided to buy around 70 cars for its office bearers across Maharashtra. The faction has zeroed in on two cars, the prices of which range from ₹12 lakh to ₹22 lakh, and a few of these were brought to the party’s headquarters for a test drive on Wednesday. Sunil Tatkare, Maharashtra chief of the Ajit Pawar faction, confirmed the development.
According to party insiders, the cars will be given to NCP district and city presidents. The decision was taken following demands from the office bearers, since many of them do not have the financial wherewithal to spend on vehicles.
The party, however, expects them to reach out to people with the new cars. “For example, they will have to say what the party’s objectives are and explain our side of the story, for example what led Ajit Pawar to split with his political mentor,” said a party insider. “All this requires extensive traveling and so it was decided to provide them with four-wheelers.”
The party has identified two vehicles from Mahindra and Mahindra—the Scorpio N 4Xplor and the Bolero Neo. While the Bolero Neo is in the price range of ₹10 lakh to ₹12 lakh, Scorpio N 4Xplor comes in the range of ₹16 lakh to ₹22 lakh. “Those in the districts need to travel more than their city counterparts, since districts are bigger in terms of area,” said the party insider. “Considering this, there is a view that Bolero Neos should be given to city presidents while district chiefs should get Scorpio N 4Xplors.”
There are around 36 district chiefs and a similar number of city presidents in the party. In the next phase, those heading frontal organisations will also get four-wheelers, taking the total number of cars to be procured to around 70.
This is not the first time the party has taken such a decision. In 2004, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP distributed four-wheelers to district and city presidents of the party. Even then, the party was in power with an alliance partner, the Congress.
On July 2, Ajit Pawar, along with a group of 40 NCP MLAs, declared support to the Eknath Shinde-led government and was inducted as another deputy chief minister along with Devendra Fadnavis. Since then, he has been in the process of strengthening his faction, which he claims is the “real NCP”. Soon after the split, Ajit changed all the office bearers and made appointments of his choice. He has also staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol before the Election Commission, for which hearings are going on.
Jitendra Awhad, MLA from the Sharad Pawar-led faction, took a dig at the rebel faction. “They are afraid that the office bearers will run away,” he said. “To lure them to stay in the party, the Ajit Pawar-led faction is distributing cars.” In response, Tatkare said that the party was not distributing cars for the first time. “We have distributed four-wheelers to office bearers in the past as well,” he retorted.
