Mumbai, Apr 4 (PTI) The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday dismissed speculation of power tussle and rift within the party, saying too much was being read into the top party leaders’ communications with the Election commission of India (ECI) done in the wake of party chief Ajit Pawar’s death.
The party made its stand clear amid allegations against senior leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare that they tried to take over the NCP after the death of Ajit Pawar, and also speculation that the present party chief Sunetra Pawar was upset with them.
Talking to PTI, NCP spokesperson Suraj Chavan said even during Ajit Pawar’s time, Praful Patel held the powers of assigning ‘AB’ forms to party candidates, as its working president.
Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28. He was the deputy chief minister and headed the NCP at that time.
A letter sent by Patel and the party’s Maharashtra unit president Sunil Tatkare to the ECI on February 16 said that as per the party constitution, in the absence of a national president, the working president of the party has the authority to take decisions on important and emergency situations.
Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state on January 31 and was unanimously elected as the NCP president on February 26.
On March 10, she communicated her election and the appointment of the working committee to the ECI and mentioned that the previous letter (sent by Patel and Tatkare) be considered null and void.
Talking about her letter, Chavan said, “It was by default that after the president’s appointment, the powers with the working president will be null and void.” “So, speculations of power tussle and internal rift have been deliberately fuelled and they are baseless and false,” he said.
In the four-page letter written by Sunetra Pawar to the ECI, the names of Tatkare and Patel were mentioned without their designations, which further led to speculation about their status in the organisation.
Talking about the absence of designations of Patel and Tatkare in the letter, Chavan said their names are mentioned as members of the working committee, which is the party’s highest decision-making body.
“But no questions were asked about the absence of designations of other members of the 14-member working committee,” he said.
On Thursday night, Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth held a meeting with Praful Patel at the latter’s residence in New Delhi. Prior to that, Parth had dubbed as “unfounded and speculative” the reports targeting Patel and Tatkare.
Such narratives (against Patel and Tatkare) were “nothing but fiction”, he said in a statement, and claimed that attempts were being made to drag these respected leaders into “manufactured controversies”.
Patel and Tatkare have demonstrated decades of commitment and leadership which continue to guide the party, Parth said in the statement, which came amid speculation that his mother was upset with the two leaders.
The NCP shares power in Maharashtra with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. PTI MR NP
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