Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Ajit Pawar evidently emerged stronger as compared with that led by his uncle Sharad Pawar in a direct show of strength by both the groups on Wednesday.
At least 32 party MLAs attended the meeting organised by the Ajit Pawar faction at Mumbai’s MET College in Bandra. In comparison, NCP president Sharad Pawar’s faction, which had its meeting at Mumbai Y.B. Chavan Centre in Nariman Point, drew 17 MLAs and one Independent legislator, Devendra Bhuyar, party leaders at both the venues told ThePrint.
The NCP has 53 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly. To pledge the party’s legislative strength to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Ajit Pawar faction needs the support of at least 36 MLAs, which is two-thirds the NCP’s strength in the assembly.
Addressing the meeting, Chhagan Bhujbal, one of the NCP leaders to take oath on Sunday, said, “We have the support of more than 40 MLAs. Some of them are still stuck in traffic, some are unwell and some are out of the country.”
On Sunday, Ajit took oath as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde-led government. Eight other NCP leaders, including senior names such as Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil known to be Sharad Pawar loyalists, took oath as ministers. While the faction claimed the support of a majority of MLAs, it did not give clarity on the exact numbers. Wednesday’s show of strength was, hence, instrumental in determining where the loyalties of legislators lie.
Both camps had set up registration desks for party workers and office bearer’s to sign affidavits. The affidavit drafted by the Ajit camp, which has until now been insisting that their leader is still Sharad Pawar, was perhaps the first direct indication of Ajit wanting to lead the NCP.
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A split in party, MLAs & karyakartas
All NCP MLAs and former MLAs as well as serving and former MPs who were present at Ajit’s meeting sat close to the dais, in rows specially reserved for them. Most of them also entered only after the venue was already full with party workers.
Apart from the nine legislators who took oath as ministers, the MLAs present at Ajit’s meet included Narhari Zirwal, Dattatray Bharne, Manikrao Kokate, Nilesh Lanke, Dilip Mohite, Sunil Tingre and Anna Bansode.
Present at Sharad Pawar’s meeting were legislators such as Suman Patil (late R.R. Patil’s wife), Rajesh Tope, Rohit Pawar, Ashok Pawar, Kiran Lahamate, Jitendra Awhad and Anil Deshmukh.
Many party workers who attended the meeting of the Ajit camp said they feel like they are caught in a political feud, but showed up for dada as he has a direct connect with them.
“All karyakartas are in a big duvidha (dilemma). On one side, there’s Pawar saheb (Sharad Pawar) and on the other side, there is Ajit dada. We don’t like the fact that we have to choose but if we have to think rationally, it is Ajit dada who gets our work done, who meets us, not Pawarsaheb, so we chose to come here,” Kalpana Ahire, a party functionary in the Jalgaon district, told ThePrint.
Also Read: As Ajit lays claim to NCP name & symbol, Sharad Pawar says ‘people will decide who party belongs to’
Affidavits — ‘Ajit Pawar to lead NCP’
There was a system in place at both the meetings to register every functionary and party worker who attended, complete with their phone numbers and addresses. Some of these affidavits were drafted on stamp papers.
At the meeting called by the Ajit-led faction, the party had set up a booth for each of Maharashtra’s 36 districts to collect such affidavits.
A party worker in charge of one such booth told ThePrint, “Registration is completely voluntary. We are just encouraging all party workers to register because if and when it becomes a legal battle, all of these affidavits will help. All of these are not on stamp papers simply because we didn’t have as many stamp papers.”
The affidavit, a copy of which ThePrint has seen, sought pledges of party members to accept Ajit as NCP leader. “I solemnly state on oath that I repose my faith and unconditional support to Shri. Ajit Pawar and the group led by Shri. Ajit Pawar who has the backing of the majority of senior leaders, elected members and the organisational members within the party. I further extend my unconditional support to Shri Ajit Pawar to lead the NCP,” it said.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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