NCP marks 21st anniversary with low-key celebrations

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar kept celebrations low-key on the 21st anniversary of the party, in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar kept celebrations low-key on the 21st anniversary of the party, in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown restrictions. NCP chief Sharad Pawar was on a tour of cyclone-hit areas in Ratnagiri district, which ended on Wednesday.

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Senior leaders held a flag hoisting ceremony at party headquarters in Mumbai and the party also asked its workers to organise blood donation camps to tide the shortage of in the state. State NCP chief Jayant Patil, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal and other senior leaders attended the flag hoisting event.

NCP was formed on June 10, 1999, after Pawar quit the Congress following fallout with the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

On Tuesday, Pawar had urged all party workers to dedicate the entire year to welfare of the society as the coronavirus has created life-threatening difficulties for many people. He also suggested that district chiefs and other cells should take up various welfare programs every month across the year.

On Thursday, Pawar will meet the Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray over providing relief to the cyclone-affected people from Konkan region. “I had a telephonic conversation with the CM on the issue and he has invited me for a meeting on June 11. Guardian ministers from the affected districts will also be present,” he said.

Pawar taunts the Governor

The NCP chief also taunted Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari over his objection to cancel final-year examinations in universities. “The [education] minister has decided to cancel the final-year examinations. Oxford University and many IIT’s in the country too have cancelled their examinations [due to coronavirus outbreak]. May be the Governor’s knowledge is more than all of them,” Pawar said.