Mumbai: Almost a month after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar broke ranks with his party to join the ruling alliance in Maharashtra, a bulk of NCP legislators are still confused about which camp to support. This was evident during the now-concluded session of the Maharashtra assembly — the first since Pawar’s move — which a majority of NCP MLAs barely attended.
The three-week monsoon session, which ended on 4 August, saw many MLAs arrive only to mark their attendance, a senior NCP MLA from the camp of party supremo Sharad Pawar told ThePrint.
“Those who have switched sides are upset. We were counting their attendance inside the House and there were barely a few — you could count them on your fingertips. They were there in the lobby, but not inside the House; those inside would also come only for a couple of minutes and go. There was no active participation or involvement from many MLAs. All are confused,” he said.
On 2 July, Ajit Pawar split from the NCP led by his uncle, Sharad Pawar — part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi — and was sworn in as a deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde-led state government. Subsequently, he and several NCP legislators from his camp were allocated cabinet portfolios, with Pawar himself getting the ministries of finance and planning. He has claimed to have the support of the majority of the NCP’s MLAs, and has tried to claim the party’s name and symbol.
However, sources from both NCP camps said that while some MLAs have publicly supported one of the factions, many are still neutral and chose not to sit in the House during the assembly session to avoid being seen supporting either side. It must be noted that neither camp has declared how many MLAs are with them.
“It is true that many came to the assembly but did not sit inside the House. However, the reason for their absence is not known yet,” said senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.
According to an official of the NCP office at the Vidhan Sabha, the party hasn’t been very particular in maintaining attendance records as “there is confusion”.
According to the records of the Vidhan Bhavan — where both houses of the state legislature are located — 82 percent of legislators attended the monsoon session. However, the Vidhan Bhavan refused to share the party-wise break-up.
Those NCP MLAs who did sit in the House also steered clear of targeting each other.
“The reason could be that many of the MLAs are still undecided and both the camps are trying to get more MLAs on their side,” said political analyst Hemant Desai.
“They still don’t know what to do. Those who have switched sides feel that they may still need Sharad Pawar to get re-elected, while those who have stayed neutral feel that if they show their allegiance, they might not receive funds for their constituency,” said Desai.
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Contrast with Sena split
Last year, too, the monsoon session of the assembly was held in the wake of a party fracturing — the Shiv Sena. But the subdued conduct of the NCP camps now stands in stark contrast to the public acrimony between the rival Senas last year, with the Uddhav Thackeray faction attacking the Shinde-led rebels as “traitors”.
The Thackeray camp aggressively levelled charges against the rebels, alleging that the split had been engineered and was the result not of a difference in ideology but of MLAs having been bribed with payments of Rs 50 crore each — and the Shinde camp hit back in kind. The two sides also fought to be recognised as the official Shiv Sena, with the Election Commission (EC) eventually recognising the claim of the Shinde camp.
In the case of the NCP, Ajit Pawar’s group has similarly written to the EC staking claim to the party’s name and symbol, and the commission has sought a reply from the Sharad Pawar faction.
However, Sharad Pawar loyalist Jitendra Awhad has asserted there is no split in the party and sought proof submitted by the Ajit Pawar camp. Media reports quoted him as saying, “Our party has not witnessed any split. We have written to the Election Commission of India telling them that there was no need to take cognisance of the letter sent to them, because we are the only single party.”
Confused MLAs
Many NCP MLAs were elusive throughout the session, although they were seen chatting with each other outside the House.
One of the MLAs who marked his presence but did not attend the session refused to say why he wasn’t in the House. “I was there for the assembly, I don’t know about others. Had heard that MLA Chetan Tupe was unwell. Don’t know about the rest. I was there,” he said.
ThePrint tried to reach Tupe, the MLA for Hadpsur, who did not attend a single sitting and has not yet announced his allegiance to either camp. However, the calls went unanswered.
On the first day of the session, 17 July, Tupe posted on his social media pages that he was in hospital, recovering from some ailment, and would be missing for some days. He began posting about his social engagements soon after the session ended.
Meanwhile inside the House, apart from NCP ministers, MLAs Narhari Zirwal and Saroj Ahire were seen with the government, while Anil Deshmukh, Jayant Patil, Jitendra Awhad, Rajesh Tope, and Rohit Pawar regularly sat on the Opposition benches.
On the first day of the second week, MP Sunil Tatkare — now the state president appointed by the Ajit Pawar faction — and MLA Jayant Patil, his counterpart from the Sharad Pawar faction, were seen hugging each other.
Later, Patil said he had hugged Tatkare after they shared a joke and that no other inference should be drawn on political lines.
“We embraced each other after a private joke between us. Although we are in separate parties (NCP factions), it is good to maintain cordial relations with people from other parties,” he said.
A leader from the Ajit Pawar camp told ThePrint that they are “still hoping that many people are in wait-and-watch mode” and will join them.
A leader from the Sharad Pawar faction shared the sentiment, but for his own side. “A lot of these people are still in two minds on who to support. At the same time, many fear that with Ajit dada (Pawar) being the finance minister, showing their allegiance right now might impact fund allocation.”
“If Ajit dada and Praful Patel say they have upwards of 40 people with them, then at least 35 or more should be seen inside the House, but that was not so,” he added.
NCP leaders say that Sharad Pawar has made his stand clear — that he is not going along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but won’t be stopping anyone from doing so either.
Party sources said to ThePrint that as finance minister, Ajit Pawar has not differentiated between the two NCP camps while distributing funds to legislators last month to carry out work in their constituencies from a supplementary Budget.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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