New Delhi: The highest body of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday approved its president Sharad Pawar’s decision to expel nine MLAs and two MPs who have switched to Maharashtra’s BJP-Shiv Sena ruling combine.
A day after the rebel faction – led by Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar – paraded more MLAs in their camp, the party’s National Executive met in Delhi to discuss the fallout.
Eight resolutions were passed, senior NCP leader P.C. Chacko said, adding that the committee expressed full faith in Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs, who took oath in the BJP-
Sena government Sunday and MPs Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, who supported them, were sacked.
Chacko also said not a single of the 27 state committees of the party had said they were not with Senior Pawar. “The organisation is intact,” he added.
After the meeting, Sharad Pawar told the media: “I am the president of the NCP… If someone says (that he is the president), then it is completely false. There is no truth in it. There’s no importance to what someone (Ajit Pawar) says.” He added the party would have its say before the Election Commission.
The rebel faction has apparently told the Election Commission that two days before the coup, Ajit Pawar was elected the party president by 40 MLAs, MLCs and MPs.
According to their letter, they named Ajit Pawar as party president on 30 June — days before he crossed over to the NDA and took oath as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister.
Chacko said Thursday that Sharad Pawar was elected the party’s president, in keeping with its rule to hold elections every three years.
Pawar also took a dig at his nephew’s charge that he was too old to run the party. “I am still effective, whether 82 or 92,” the veteran leader said.
On Wednesday in Mumbai, both camps held parallel shows of strength, parading as many of the party’s 53 MLAs as they could.
Ajit Pawar got a greater show of hands from NCP MLAs than his uncle. At least 32 of the party’s 53 MLAs turned up at his meeting.
Seventeen were at Senior Pawar’s show, making it clear that he had lost support of the majority.
Also read: ‘Congress will also break in Maharashtra,’ says ruling Shinde Sena after ally NCP splits