The Congress party has announced it will not contest the bypoll to the Baramati assembly seat out of respect for Ajit Pawar, whose death necessitated the election.
The action comes a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers. Tatkare's daughter Aditi was among the ministers who took oath on Sunday.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
He expressed confidence that the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, NCP (Sharad Pawar group) and Congress will come to power in Maharashtra after the 2024 elections.
Bhujbal said the recent developments in the NCP happened after legal experts were consulted to escape disqualification.
"If someone wants to go, irrespective of the party, no one stops him. Leadership is needed for this, there is no need to work yourself to stop it. The leader should take care of how to make the organisation healthy by being on the front foot. But there is nothing like this (possibility of disintegration) in our party," he said.
Addressing a Social Unity Conference in Navi Mumbai on Sunday evening, Pawar also criticised the Centre's handling of the ethnic strife in Manipur, which has claimed several lives since last May.
In a major setback to party founder Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission of India also allotted the NCP symbol 'Wall Clock' to the group led by Ajit Pawar.
This is the second meeting of Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as Maharashtra deputy chief minister on July 2, and his MLAs with the NCP supremo in two days.
After his death, Sharad Pawar and other leaders of his party claimed that merger talks were in advanced stages and Ajit Pawar had finalised February 12 as the date to announce reunification between the rival factions.
NCP MP Supriya Sule and other party leaders accompanied the 38-year-old legislator till the entrance of the probe agency's office.
The NCP chief was accompanied by his wife Pratibha Pawar, Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan, NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakde, party's Pune city unit president Prashant Jagtap and many other party workers.
Amid renewed speculation about political realignments and a potential merger, senior leaders from two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule clarified her party's position on the proposed Delimitation Bill, stating that while a uniform 50 per cent increase in seats across states would be hard to oppose, any final decision would be made after discussions within the INDIA bloc.
Pawar was amenable to increasing the height of the boundary walls of his house in Delhi as part of the enhanced security measures.
'We were discussing government formation with Sharad Pawar. We had even finalised portfolio distribution and guardian ministers' responsibilities'
A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar announced his decision to step down as the political outfit's chief, he stuck to his daily routine of meeting people including party functionaries in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was on Friday admitted to Escorts Hospital in Delhi after he complained of restlessness and uneasiness.
If false accusations are levelled against me, I will have no choice but to make audio-visual evidence public, Fadnavis said.
When asked to spell out the exact number of MLAs backing Ajit Pawar, Patel claimed the entire party (53 MLAs) is together.
The MLA claimed his name had figured in the list of nine ministers of NCP, including Ajit Pawar who took oath last Sunday.
NCP led by the former Union minister said the Election Commission had sought its response to a petition filed by Ajit Pawar, and the party submitted its "preliminary response" to the poll panel on September 7.
The bench gave liberty to Sharad Pawar to move the poll panel for allocation of the party symbol and directed the poll panel to allot it in one week of the application.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has thrown his weight behind villagers in Solapur, Maharashtra, who are demanding a repoll using ballot papers after raising doubts about the accuracy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Pawar met with villagers in Markadwadi, where a police case was filed against over 200 people for attempting to conduct an unauthorized re-election. He expressed support for their concerns, claiming that the villagers were "the ones who thought of conducting polls using ballot papers." Pawar criticized the police action, calling it a restriction on the villagers' right to assemble and vowing to raise the issue with the Chief Minister, the state Chief Electoral Officer, the Prime Minister, and the Election Commission of India.
Ajit Pawar had also slammed Raut without taking the latter's name and said spokespersons of other parties were behaving like NCP's spokespersons.
The 80-year-old leader was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital on Sunday.
The chief minister's reply came on a query on Sharad Pawar's statement a day before wherein he said there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is its leader. Pawar later denied making such a statement.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP will hold their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
Notably, amid rumours that he is cosying up with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Ajit Pawar on Friday said he would '100 per cent like to be the chief minister' of Maharashtra and that the NCP can stake a claim to the post of the CM 'now also' instead of waiting for 2024 when assembly polls are due in the state.
About Ajit Pawar appearing to be the only NCP leader favouring his uncle's decision, Rane said, "Ajit was making big speeches. He found Pawar's decision correct while the party workers hold a contrarian view."
Sharad Pawar objected to comparing PM Modi with Jawaharlal Nehru, highlighting Nehru's sacrifices and nation-building contributions.
Here are who's who attending the wedding.
Pawar reminded PM Modi of his recent remarks about 'corruption' of NCP leaders, and asked him to act against those who are guilty.
Ahead of being sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra third time in four years, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar had called a meeting of party leaders and MLAs at his official residence in Mumbai.
Police in Pune have registered a rioting case against a religious preacher and his supporters after an ink attack on an NCP (SP) spokesperson, following accusations of targeting spiritual leaders.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
The death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has created a leadership crisis within the NCP, raising questions about the party's future and potential reunification with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
Pawar also announced a panel of senior party leaders to draw a future course of action. Party workers and leaders, however, demanded that Pawar withdraw his decision.
Pawar on Wednesday visited the Congress office in Pune for the first time after he quit the Grand Old Party 23 years ago.
This is apparently the first visit of Ajit Pawar to Silver Oak after he rebelled against his uncle, split the NCP and joined the Eknath Shinde government on July 2.
He furnished an undertaking before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan pursuant to a March 14 order by the apex court.
