Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar both claim to have the support of NCP legislators.
Mumbai:
The two NCP factions will hold key meets in Mumbai today to demonstrate that the bulk of the party’s legislators are with them. The party has been in firefighting mode since Ajit Pawar rebelled and joined the Maharashtra government last week.
Here are 10 facts on this big story:
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The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has issued a whip to all its legislators asking them to attend a key meeting at 1 pm at Mumbai’s Nariman Point today. The whip was issued by Jitendra Awhad, who was named as the party’s chief whip on Sunday.
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NCP’s working president, in a video, urged party leaders and workers to turn up at the meet in large numbers and seek guidance from Sharad Pawar on the road ahead.
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In Bandra, the rival group headed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will hold a separate meeting in a bid to prove that they have the support of the majority of the party’s MLAs.
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While Sharad Pawar’s NCP is banking on the 83-year-old’s experience and popularity, the Ajit Pawar camp, sources said, is asking MLAs to make a “practical decision”.
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Posters seeking support for Sharad Pawar or Ajit Pawar have sprung up in various parts of Mumbai. The banners outside Sharad Pawar’s residence asked people to come support the “83-year-old warrior fighting alone”. The Ajit Pawar camp has also been using the photo of the NCP patriarch, despite the other
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In a shock move last week, Ajit Pawar resigned as the leader of the Opposition and hours later took oath as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. Eight other NCP legislators were also sworn in and the state government is expected to announce a cabinet expansion soon.
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The NCP has 53 MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. According to sources, Ajit Pawar claims that he has the support of 43. But Jayant Patil, a leader in the Sharad Pawar faction, has said that some of the MLAs who signed up for the other side claimed they did not know what they were signing.
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Sharad Pawar’s party has moved a petition before Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and the 8 MLAs who have taken oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led government.
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Even if Ajit Pawar manages to get 50 out of 53 MLAs, disqualification proceedings can still be initiated as Supreme Court has held that original political party should merge under the 10th schedule and legislative party cannot be independent of a political party. So, the show of strength by Ajit Pawar will not have any impact on the disqualification proceedings.
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Praful Patel, minister in the UPA government and once a staunch Sharad Pawar loyalist, speaking about his defection said that the Opposition lacks a “central party” that is capable of getting 150 seats. “Unless you have a big party — do you find any party that will win 150 seats next time? Of course, nothing is impossible in politics but I’m just saying by a reasonable yardstick you measure, no party is going to have 150 seats. And if you don’t have 150 seats, a central party, then you can’t form a coalition around that number,” Mr Patel told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
