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.
'Perhaps, he must have thought that it was time to pass on the baton to the younger generation.'
'The entire Pawar family -- Sunetra Vahini, Jay and Parth Pawar (Ajit Pawar's sons), Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule -- will sit together and decide how to move forward.'
If false accusations are levelled against me, I will have no choice but to make audio-visual evidence public, Fadnavis said.
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.
Bhujbal said the recent developments in the NCP happened after legal experts were consulted to escape disqualification.
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'
NCP's Parth Pawar flew in an aircraft belonging to VSR Aviation, a company targeted by his family after a plane crash killed his father, leading to controversy and clarification.
Sule, who is being projected as Pawar's heir apparent, has clarified that neither Pawar nor any member of the Pawar family had any investments in IPL. She preferred sugarcane-rich Kolhapur in Maharashtra to issue the clarification.
Arvinder Singh, who was arrested for slapping Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a function in New Delhi in November, was on Monday granted bail by a Delhi court. District Judge H S Sharma granted bail to Singh while directing him against indulging in any violent activity in the future. Singh was granted bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 and a surety of like amount.
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.
Ajit Pawar had also slammed Raut without taking the latter's name and said spokespersons of other parties were behaving like NCP's spokespersons.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
The 80-year-old leader was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital on Sunday.
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.
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.
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.
Pawar reminded PM Modi of his recent remarks about 'corruption' of NCP leaders, and asked him to act against those who are guilty.
Pawar on Wednesday visited the Congress office in Pune for the first time after he quit the Grand Old Party 23 years ago.
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.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
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.
In the season of scams, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and his close relatives were on Thursday dragged into a corruption scandal by a former India Police Service officer-turned-lawyer for benefiting a private developer by allegedly bestowing undue favours for the controversial Lavasa hill city project.
Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule tried to placate the protesters outside the house, saying she was ready to talk to them but she must ensure first that her parents who were inside were safe.
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.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel has claimed 51 out of the 53 party MLAs had told NCP chief Sharad Pawar that a possibility of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party should be explored after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra collapsed last year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to bring out a report on the state of Indian agriculture, to be presented to Parliament every year before the Union Budget.
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 is expected to play a crucial role in deciding the future course or action of the opposition alliance.
NCP president Sharad Pawar may be busy getting ready for the INDIA Opposition bloc meeting in Mumbai with other Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents, but his close friend and industrialist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has a piece of advice for the octogenarian leader.
Sharad Pawar objected to comparing PM Modi with Jawaharlal Nehru, highlighting Nehru's sacrifices and nation-building contributions.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his party will not go with the Bharatiya Janata Party though some 'well-wishers' are trying to persuade him.
He furnished an undertaking before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan pursuant to a March 14 order by the apex court.
