NCP legislators to elect group, legislative party leaders today

The newly elected legislators of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are expected to elect the party’s group leader and legislative party leader on Wednesday. The

The newly elected legislators of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are expected to elect the party’s group leader and legislative party leader on Wednesday. The group leader will also be the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, as the NCP is the main opposition party with 54 seats. Its ally Congress got 44 seats.

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It is not yet clear if senior leader Ajit Pawar will throw his hat in the ring or would take the role of legislature party leader with separate group leaders in the Assembly and Council. According to NCP insiders, Ajit Pawar will be the first choice among the MLAs. Besides Ajit, the frontrunners for the post of Opposition leader are state unit chief Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde.

“Ajit Pawar is the first choice among MLAs as the post is crucial and the leader sets the agenda for the Opposition in the Assembly. He can be an aggressive Opposition leader who can corner the government on various issues, which is also the need of the hour,” said a NCP leader.

Ajit is virtually the number two in the party after NCP chief Sharad Pawar. He was the leader of the NCP’s parliamentary party unit that comprises party legislators from both houses of the legislature. For the past five years, Ajit mostly decided the party’s stand on various issues inside the legislature. In such a scenario, Chhagan Bhujbal, who is the OBC face of the party, can be appointed the legislative leader of the NCP.

In the past five years, the Congress has failed to corner the Fadnavis government on the floor of the Assembly. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, then opposition leader, who the NCP accused of being soft on the government, defected to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

However, the decision has to be taken by Pawar. “The NCP chief will decide who should be the leader of the Opposition, whether he wants a Maratha leader — Ajit Pawar or Jayant Patil. If Pawar wants an OBC leader, the choice could be between Bhujbal and Munde, who is now a member of the Assembly,” said a former NCP minister.

Jayant Patil handled the finance and home portfolios in the successive Congress-NCP governments. He is articulate and popular among the NCP cadre. Bhujbal had a successful stint as the Opposition leader in the legislative Council. He was credited for damaging the image of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government in 1995-99 as the Opposition leader. However, Bhujbal is also embroiled in the Enforcement Directorate cases over charges of money laundering.

Dhananjay Munde, who shocked the BJP by defeating rural development minister Pankaja Munde, succeeded in cornering the government on various issues in the upper House. With his election, the party will also have to decide the leader of opposition in the state council.