Nationalist Congress Party leader Sunetra Pawar on Tuesday took charge as Maharshtra's deputy chief minister, a fortnight after her husband Ajit Pawar died in an air crash.
NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto also claimed that the party working president Supriya Sule and state unit chief Jayant Patil are contacting all the 53 MLAs and the picture will become clearer by Monday.
An editorial in the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray mouthpiece Saamana claimed the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has not only 'muddied' politics of Maharashtra but also of the country.
'For the past several years, Supriya is in Delhi. I am active in state politics. I have responsibility of the state since I am the leader of opposition'
The Ajit Pawar faction is the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Election Commission announced on Tuesday, ending months of speculation over the factional fight with his party founder and uncle Sharad Pawar.
Shinde said his new deputy Ajit Pawar has chosen the path of development and expressed his faith in the leadership of Modi.
Pawar, who described himself as the national president of the NCP, said employment, economic empowerment of all sections of the society, education, health, implementation of all welfare measures are the priority of the government.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's reverses in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were due to poor vote transfer from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday.
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.
A day after joining the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday went to meet Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss allocation of portfolios in the cabinet, sources said.
Pawar acknowledged that his political career faced challenges, including a year lost to the COVID-19 pandemic and another year spent out of power, leaving him with only three active years.
He further said that he believes Ajit Pawar will play a key role as a "kingmaker" after the elections.
On January 28 this year, a private charter plane carrying then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others crashed near the Baramati airstrip, killing all on board.
Amid the deepening political turmoil in Maharashtra, state Congress president Nana Patole accused Deputy CM and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar of harassing Congress legislators and ministers by stalling their development funds.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
Marking a vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party, its senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, has said that helming the NCP away from the shadows of his uncle and founder Sharad Pawar after the split is a huge responsibility.
'This is what you get when you decide to be someone's slaves'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday that he would first speak with Nawab Malik to understand the former minister's position about his political affiliation before explaining his Nationalist Congress Party group's stand on the matter.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar defends the Congress party's right to contest the Baramati assembly bypoll, criticising his grandnephew Parth Pawar's remarks against the Congress candidate. Pawar cites the importance of electoral contest and questions Parth's political maturity.
As many as 35 of 53 Nationalist Congress Party MLAs were present at the party meeting convened by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday, party sources said.
Senior NCP leader Narhari Zirwal says the public wants Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, to be brought into the Maharashtra state ministry.
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.
Nationalist Congress Party national working president Praful Patel has dismissed claims of a rift within the party, specifically addressing a legal challenge to Sunetra Pawar's election as party president. A national secretary, Sachchidanand Singh, alleged the election was unconstitutional, but Patel stated the letter carries no weight and senior leaders support Sunetra Pawar. The dispute highlights internal dynamics following the demise of Ajit Pawar.
The EOW stated in its closure report that it did not see any criminality or wrongdoing in the matter, adding that the bank in question did not suffer any losses in the process of sanctioning loans or selling the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill.
But the atmosphere is now conducive for the Mahayuti to continue in power in Maharashtra thanks to the government's people-centric schemes, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is giving promises that it cannot execute, he said.
Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party president Jayant Patil on Sunday said his party has moved a disqualification petition against Ajit Pawar and eight others who took oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led state government.
As per an NCP statement, Patel assured Odio he would support him in his efforts to strengthen the 24-year-old party.
When asked about Ajit Pawar being upset, Sule said, "This is all gossip. Dada (Ajit Pawar) is Leader of Opposition in the state (Assembly). His position is equivalent to that of the chief minister. BJP is trying to target Ajit Pawar...sometimes they target me."
Patel insisted that the meeting with Shah and other BJP leaders was a "courtesy call" as he and Ajit Pawar had not met them formally since joining the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
The process to merge the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar and the Nationalist Congress Party may now face a roadblock due to the death of Ajit Pawar, said Sharad Pawar on Saturday.
A section of Shiv Sena lawmakers had raised certain concerns after the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined the one-year-old Shinde-BJP government.
It asked the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi saying that the 'clock' symbol is sub-judice and its use is subject to adjudication.
"If Ajit Pawar was unhappy in the Congress-NCP government, he should have left that time itself," Patole told reporters.
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
The NCP chief has not concealed his ambition to occupy the top post in the state in the past.
Two days before rebelling against uncle Sharad Pawar and joining the Maharashtra government last Sunday, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission on June 30 staking claim to the party name as well as symbol and subsequently also declared himself as president with the support of 40 lawmakers, sources said.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar was on Monday named the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly.
"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.
