Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on Friday asserted that there is no split in the party, terming Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's revolt as merely a “different stand”, which he said was allowed in a democracy. Pawar also said that his nephew is still a leader of the NCP.
“There is no question that he (Ajit Pawar) is our leader. What does a split in a political party mean? Split occurs when a large group in a party is separated at the national level. But no such thing has happened here,” Pawar told reporters at his hometown Baramati in Pune district before embarking on a visit to Kolhapur.
“Yes, some leaders took a different stance but this can't be called a split. They can do so in a democracy,” the Maratha strongman said.
Pawar was responding to a question about his daughter and party's working president Supriya Sule's insistence that there was no split in the NCP and that Ajit Pawar was still its leader.
A day earlier, Sule called Ajit Pawar a senior leader and MLA of the party.
"Now, he (Ajit Pawar) has taken a stand that is against the party, and we have given a complaint to the assembly speaker and are awaiting his response," Sule, who is NCP's Baramati MP, told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}"Now, he (Ajit Pawar) has taken a stand that is against the party, and we have given a complaint to the assembly speaker and are awaiting his response," Sule, who is NCP's Baramati MP, told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs dealt a major blow to party chief Sharad Pawar by joining the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra on July 2.
When asked about a survey that projected the opposition INDIA alliance getting a good response against the NDA in the Lok Sabha polls, Pawar said, "I haven't seen the survey yet. But yes, we are talking with some survey organisations where we can clearly see that MVA will win maximum seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections."
Pawar will be holding a rally in Kolhapur, his erstwhile bastion of western Maharashtra.