Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 3: Just a year after the Sena Vs Sena tussle, the game is being replayed in Maharashtra again, the only change is this time it is NCP Vs NCP. Having mastered the art of defection, the Sena rebels apparently are guiding the Nationalist Congress Party splinter group led by Ajit Pawar who are proceeding on the dotted line of the template set by the breakaway Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Like Shinde, Ajit Pawar who led the coup on Sunday revolting against his uncle and founder-leader of the party Sharad Pawar and joined the Shinde – Fadnavis government as the second deputy chief minister along with eight of his party colleagues also sworn-in as cabinet ministers, on Monday declared his to be the original NCP and sacked the current NCP president Jayant Patil.
Calling it “structural changes”, Praful Patel, sacked from the NCP minutes ago by Sharad Pawar, declared that Ajit Pawar has been appointed the leader of the NCP. “We have also informed the speaker that Anil Bhaidas Patil, who was the chief whip earlier too, will continue to be our whip. Whatever appointment we need to do, we will be doing everything officially ahead of monsoon session,” said Patel, who was present at the oath ceremony of Ajit Pawar — the new Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra — at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.
The rebel leaders, following the Shinde template, had declared yesterday that they are the NCP, avoiding any mention of Sharad Pawar, who had founded the party more than two decades ago and has nurtured it since. The rebels claim that they have the support of the practically the whole party.
The NCP’s discipline committee, too, has called for disqualification of the 9 MLAs who backed Ajit Pawar in his revolt to ally with the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. “These actions of the 9 MLAS call for immediate disqualification… if allowed to continue as members, there is a very real likelihood that they will continue to try and undermine the interests of the party,” the NCP’s discipline committee said in a statement.
The NCP has also written to the state Assembly speaker for the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and his eight NCP colleagues and has expelled from the party two MPs Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare for alleged anti-patty activities. In addition, the party has also expelled three other leaders who had attended Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony.
The NCP state president Jayant Patil said the nine MLAs were disqualified the moment they took oath as ministers in the Maharashtra government, for “indulging in anti-party activities.” Moreover, Patil said, to prevent anyone from staking a claim on the party, they wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) informing the latter that the nine MLAs concerned have acted against the NCP’s position.
Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP appointed Jitendra Awhad as Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly as the post fell vacant after Ajit Pawar resigned from the same. Awhad has also been appointed as the Chief Whip of the party. The Monsoon session of the Assembly is set to commence on July 17.
But Praful Patel declared that the fate of the rebel leaders lie only in the hands of the Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar. “I just want to say one thing clearly, that no disqualification or suspension can be done by any party. The ECI doesn’t have the right as well, the right is of the speaker and it’s a long process and without the Speaker’s approval, this can’t happen,” Patel said.
The NCP action against the three leaders and the call for disqualifying two MPs are seen as showing an example to those who supported the rebel Ajit Pawar. The expelled leaders are Mumbai divisional NCP chief Narendra Rathod, Akola city district chief Vijay Deshmukh and state minister Shivajirao Garje. All three had attended Ajit Pawar’s oath ceremony.
“I write with great urgency to inform you that two MPs of NCP, namely Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, have acted in violation of our Constitution, party rules and indulged in anti-party activities by facilitating and spearheading the oath ceremony of 9 MLAs…” Ms Supriya Sule, party’s working president, wrote in a letter to Sharad Pawar. “The fact these defections were done in such secretive manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amount to desertion of the party which in turn invites disqualification. With this, it has become abundantly clear that the said MPs no longer share the aims and ideology of the NCP,” Ms Sule said.
The sudden turn of events that capped weeks of speculation over Ajit Pawar’s next political move came as a shocker to his uncle Sharad Pawar, the 83-year-old Maratha strongman who hopes to become a key player in an anti-BJP front in 2024, however, put up a brave face and called his nephew’s rebellion a “robbery.”
Ajit Pawar defended his decision to share power with the BJP. “If we can go with the Shiv Sena, then we can go with the BJP as well. The same thing happened in Nagaland as well,” Ajit Pawar said. He asserted there was no split in the NCP, the party founded by his uncle in 1999 after he left the Congress.
Both Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar have called meetings of his supporters in the next two days when some issues would become clear who enjoyed the majority support. However, till a decision is taken by the speaker, who is known for deliberately delaying a decision on the Sena Vs Sena case, is unlikely to disqualify Ajit Pawar and his supporters till the state Assembly elections next year.
“The majority of NCP MLAs are with us,” Ajit Pawar claimed on Monday. “They have no right to move disqualification petition against us as the party and symbol are with us,” he added, but maintained that Sharad Pawar remained the national president of the party, but Sunil Tatkare was appointed the new state president of the party.
In a significant setback to rebel Ajit Pawar, NCP MP Amol Kolhe, has pledged his support to the party supremo Sharad Pawar, a day after joining hands with the Shinde-Fadnavis-Pawar government. “I attended the swearing-in ceremony yesterday, but it is my conscience that has guided this decision. I will be meeting Pawar saheb tomorrow,” the actor-turned-politician said. Similarly, the Goa unit of the NCP also pledged support for party chief Sharad Pawar. The party’s Goa unit president Jose Philip D’Souza said the entire unit of Goa was strongly behind Sharad Pawar and would not break away from the NCP.
The entire unit has faith in Sharad Pawar’s capabilities to rebuild the party even after such moves by some leaders, D’Souza said. “We have seen him do it some 15 years ago when a similar incident had happened,” he said.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday claimed he has information that the BJP has promised Ajit Pawar the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister.
With Ajit Pawar’s move to join the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP coalition on Sunday changing political dynamics in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also claimed that Shinde will lose the CM’s post.
NCP MP Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar’s cousin, speaking after the latter’s rebellion said, “Dada will always remain my elder brother. I would be very happy if they return back. I was not privy to any information [of the NCP leaders taking this step]… It appears that BJP lacks confidence ahead of the 2024 elections NCP is a very democratic party.” On Ajit Pawar’s praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said: “This is a democratic country. I am in touch with all MLAs, I have spoken yesterday and will continue to do so. Let us see how this story unfolds.”
