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Pawar Sr digs in as Maha drama plays out in Delhi
Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), held a meeting of party office bearers in Delhi, countering his nephew Ajit Pawar's alliance with the BJP and calling for his retirement. The meeting, attended by 22 of the party's 27 state chiefs, passed resolutions reaffirming support for Sharad Pawar and approving the expulsion of rebels. Sharad Pawar expressed confidence in retaining the party name and symbol through the Election Commission of India. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also extended his support to Sharad Pawar. The crisis in the NCP began when Ajit Pawar joined the BJP and became deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.
The stage for a bruising battle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) shifted from Mumbai to Delhi on Thursday as a combative Sharad Pawar flexed his organisational muscle at a meeting of party office bearers in the Capital, hitting back at his nephew Ajit Pawar for joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asking the senior leader to retire.
Battling a split in the NCP, where a majority of the legislators in Maharashtra appear to be backing deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, the senior Pawar held a show of strength of the party’s organisational wing. The meeting of the working committee was attended by 22 of the party’s 27 state chiefs, with the other five sending letters of support. The committee passed eight resolutions, reposing the faith of all 27 state units in Sharad Pawar, and stamping their approval of the expulsion of the rebels.
“I am still effective whether I am 82 or 92… I am still the NCP president. We will rebuild the party,” he said in an apparent response to his nephew saying on Wednesday that the senior leader enjoyed a long political career and should consider retirement.
The former Union minister added that he will go to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and expressed confidence that the party name and symbol were with him. “We trust ECI. We will go to ECI. We will think of appropriate legal measures if needed, but I think it would not be required now,” he added.
In the next few days, the Pawar-led NCP leadership will write to EC to retain the party symbol and name, a person familiar with the matter said.
Hours after the meeting ended, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called on the veteran politician and extended his support. “Rahul Gandhi extended his support to Pawar saheb and resolved to fight BJP together,” a senior NCP leader said after the meeting.
The crisis in the NCP began on Sunday when Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP lawmakers joined hands with the BJP and took oath as ministers in the Maharashtra government. The rebellion set off a string of tit-for-tat disqualifications and appointments in both camps and representations to ECI in what was an almost play-by-play repeat of a split last year in the Shiv Sena that brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Both camps held parallel meetings on Wednesday in Mumbai to corral legislators. Thirty-two lawmakers attended Ajit Pawar’s event and 15 were with Sharad Pawar. The allegiance of six legislators remains unknown.
But if ECI ends up having to take a call on the party name and symbol, the organisational side of the NCP might also play a crucial role. This is the support that Sharad Pawar shored up on Thursday. Both sides have approached the poll body.
Pawar rejected Ajit Pawar’s claim that the rebels were the real NCP and threw a challenge: “We will see who has majority. Whatever has happened, I am happy. People have noticed everything. In the next election, Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) will come to power.”
The Ajit Pawar faction — which has already passed a resolution to remove Sharad Pawar as the NCP chief — dismissed the meeting and said it had no legal sanctity. “The dispute on the question of who represents the real NCP is within the exclusive jurisdiction of ECI and therefore no person within the party has any authority to call for any meeting of the national executive/national working committee/ national office bearers/ state party presidents till such time the dispute is finally decided by ECI,” said a statement by the faction.
After the working committee meeting in Delhi, NCP leader PC Chako, who is in the Sharad Pawar camp, said, “All 27 state units are still with the national leadership. Not a single state unit has said they are not with the NCP leadership.”
He added: “In Maharashtra, Jayant Patil heads the NCP state unit. What happened in Maharashtra is only confined to the state. ECI and the Supreme Court has made it clear that party leadership is to be determined by the organisation. We have 27 state committees and 400 district committees. In today’s meeting, five state presidents couldn’t come but all of them have sent letter in support of Sharad Pawar. The other state committee presidents were present and expressed their faith in Pawar.”
The working committee passed eight resolutions including one to repose “full faith and confidence” in Sharad Pawar. It approved the expulsion of 11 rebels, a decision taken by Pawar earlier.
The panel also empowered the party president to fight against the “communal politics of BJP” and expressed “deep concern in the communal situation in Manipur” with Chacko describing the situation as a state without any government, no strong action and disproportionate levels of communal clashes.
Misuse of government agencies and politics of hate was a part of the resolution. Similarly, unemployment and price rise were highlighted and the NCP resolved to firmly stand with the Opposition.
The NCP leaders also clammed Union home minister Amit Shah for allegedly targeting Opposition leaders and forcing them to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
