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Ajit’s rebellion sparks a bitter Pawar vs Pawar fight for NCP
A bitter battle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is underway between Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar and party patriarch Sharad Pawar. Tit-for-tat expulsions and appointments have occurred in both factions of the party, with both sides claiming to be the "real" NCP. The confrontation follows Ajit Pawar's decision to rebel against his uncle and join the Bharatiya Janata Party. The fight for control of the NCP could have significant implications for the party's future and the political landscape in Maharashtra.
Tit-for-tat expulsions and appointments in both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) marked the beginning of a bitter battle for control of the party between Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and his uncle and party patriarch Sharad Pawar on Monday as the stage of the confrontation shifted from the government to the party.
An air of respectful politeness that hung over Ajit Pawar’s decision on Sunday to rebel against his uncle and join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dissipated a day later, as both sides claimed to be the “real” NCP and bitterly contested the other’s right to make appointments, in what was a play-by-play repeat of the Shiv Sena split a year ago that led to a change of regime in the state.
In a public meeting, Sharad Pawar said some people in the party were misled by the BJP and that he bore them no malice. But hours later, he expelled the NCP’s recently appointed working president Praful Patel and general secretary Sunil Tatkare, both of whom defected with Ajit Pawar.
In a sharp retaliation indicative of the escalating bitterness, Patel, a long-time associate of Sharad Pawar, said the NCP patriarch lost the right to sack him. He also appointed Jalgaon lawmaker Anil Patil as the new whip and said Ajit Pawar was elected as the party’s new legislative chief.
NCP state president Jayant Patil also sent a letter to Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar late on Sunday night, seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and eight other legislators who took oath as ministers in the Shiv Sena-BJP government.
Supriya Sule – the party’s working president for Maharashtra – recommended that Patel and Tatkare be expelled from the party.
“In the light of your undisputed conduct, by the power bestowed upon me as the national president of the NCP vide rules framed under Article 21 (vi)(a) of the party constitution, I hereby formally remove your names from the membership registrar of the party in view of your action of voluntarily giving up membership of the NCP,” said a letter signed by Sharad Pawar to the two leaders. Patel is the party’s Rajya Sabha MP while Tatkare is the Lok Sabha MP from Raigad.
State general secretary Shivajirao Garje, Mumbai working president Narendra Rane and a few other office bearers who were seen at Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony too were expelled from the party.
“Your action of supporting Shri Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs who have sworn oath as ministers in violation of the party’s direction and mandate amounts to anti-party activities,” said the letter by Sharad Pawar.
In the evening, the Ajit Pawar camp hit back by appointing Tatkare as the Maharashtra NCP president in place of Jayant Patil. It also asked Narvekar to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad from the House.
Patel said the decision to back the Eknath Shinde-led government and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a “collective” move by the NCP.
“Today (Monday) is Guru Purnima; we all wish that Sharad Pawar continues to bless us,” he said.
Ajit Pawar — whose action on Sunday was widely speculated on for months and which plunged the NCP in its worst crisis since it was formed in 1999 — said he enjoyed the support of maximum NCP legislators and said he had given a letter to the assembly speaker to that effect.
“A majority of NCP MLAs are with us, that is why I became deputy CM. We have requested the speaker to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad,” he said.
But he steered clear of explicitly spelling out how many members are backing him. To bypass the anti-defection law, he needs the support of two-thirds of the NCP’s 53 legislators.
Ajit Pawar said the party and lawmakers were with him and the notice for disqualification against him and the eight newly sworn-in ministers was meaningless.
“We are not here to expel anybody from our party… the party and its symbol is with us,” he added.
The stand-off hinted that both sides were digging their heels in for the looming battle for control of the NCP, which has a strong base in western Maharashtra, and among the sugar cooperatives and Maratha communities.
The fight bore the same leitmotif as the vertical split in the Shiv Sena last year, when chief minister Eknath Shinde walked away from the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with 40 lawmakers, brought down the administration, joined hands with the BJP and argued successfully before the Election Commission that he was the real Shiv Sena.
Ajit Pawar insisted, echoing Shinde, that it was for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide which faction was the real party. At the same time, he stressed that the national president of the party remained his uncle who had brought him into in politics.
“We will have to follow the rules, regulations and the constitution (of the party). The powers to decide party affairs have been given to those who have the majority, as we saw only a year ago (in Sena’s case),” he said in the joint press conference.
The key appeared to be the organisational structure of the NCP and its constitution, both of which might come into play should one or both of the factions approach ECI.
In an organisational rejig on June 10, the NCP appointed two working presidents. Praful Patel was given charge of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Goa, while Supriya Sule was given charge of Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab, and also made chairman of the party’s central election authority. That difference in the states under their remit is likely to play a crucial role legally, since the defection happened in Maharashtra which is under Sule’s charge.
According to the party’s constitution, the working committee of the NCP is the highest body in the party. Article 20(ix) states, “The president shall preside over the National Convention of the party held after his or her election and during his or her term of office, he or she shall exercise all the powers of the working committee when it is not in session.” Sharad Pawar remains the president of the party.
Narwekar – who is already considering the matter of the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde – said he had received Jayant Patil’s notice on the disqualification of the rebel NCP MLAs and that he would need some time to deliberate before taking any decision.
In the 288-member assembly, the numerical strengths of both sides remain unclear. Till late Monday evening, the Ajit Pawar camp had the support of 25 of the 53 MLAs while Sharad Pawar was backed by 13 MLAs. The remaining 15 MLAs were either incommunicado or said they will decide after consulting their constituents. This is one of the reasons why the party has refrained from acting against other MLAs as they believe some of them will return to Sharad Pawar’s fold. The picture is likely to become clearer on July 5 when both factions hold their respective meetings in Mumbai.
The cleaving raises fresh questions about the longevity of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, whose two primary constituents (Shiv Sena and NCP) have now been depleted by defections. Ajit Pawar’s defection also dealt a blow to the Opposition’s fledgling efforts at forging a common platform to take on the BJP ahead of the 2024 elections, and showed that the ruling party was moving towards rebuilding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
