Maharashtra Politics News Live Updates: Sharad Pawar expels Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and S R Kohli from NCP; says I am the president of party

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Thursday passed a resolution against the rebel faction led by Ajit Pawar during a meeting in the national capital. The Sharad Pawar group has also suspended Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and SR Kohli from the NCP for siding with Ajit Pawar.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said nobody in Shiv Sena is unhappy over NCP leader Ajit Pawar's inclusion in the state ministry.

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Thursday dubbed the political developments in Maharashtra as a "tamasha", and said the law seems to allow it. He also said the political developments were about "loaves of power" and not people. The remarks by Sibal, a noted advocate, came after NCP leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will hold his maiden public rally, since the political coup by his nephew Ajit Pawar, at Nashik’s Yeola taluka on July 8.Yeola is the home turf of veteran NCP politician Chhagan Bhujbal, who is team-Ajit Pawar and is now a minister in the Shinde-Fadnavis government. The NCP chief’s Yeola rally is the first in a series of rallies planned across the state, mainly in the constituencies of NCP politicians who sided with his nephew.

Ajit Pawar, leader of the breakaway NCP faction, wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) as “NCP president” and staked claim to the party name and ‘clock’ symbol on Friday, two days before he joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government with eight party MLAs. In response, NCP founder Sharad Pawar filed a caveat with the ECI saying no order should be passed unless the poll panel takes note of his contention on Ajit’s petition. In his petition to the ECI, Ajit submitted: “I am NCP president, as such the party symbol should be allotted to me as per provisions of the symbol order, 1968.” On Wednesday, the elder Pawar said he led the “real” NCP and no one could snatch away the clock symbol.

Ajit Pawar launched a scathing attack on his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar on Wednesday, asking when the 83-year-old was going to retire and give the next generation his blessing. In a statement that could also ruffle the feathers of chief minister Eknath Shinde, Pawar said he had already been deputy CM five times and now aspired to lead the state. Ajit disclosed that NCP had been in talks to form a government with the BJP in 2014, 2017 and 2019, but things did not proceed. Yet, when he joined the BJP government, he was singled out as a villain, he said. Recently, Sharad Pawar had claimed he held talkswith the BJP in 2019 only to expose its lust for power.

Sharad Pawar accused BJP of double standards and rebels in the Ajit Pawar camp of opportunism, but steered clear of personal attacks on his nephew. Despite a whip that made the presence of all MLAs mandatory, he was flanked by only 15 of his 53 legislators at his meeting on Wednesday; 3 more are said to have extended support but were not present. In his speech which lasted over an hour, the NCP founder seemed unflustered by the rebellion, insisting that he led the “real” NCP and no one could take the party symbol away. He said the alliance with BJP would prove to be a misadventure. Pawar said these legislators must recall history. “Instates, where BJP has engineered a split or joined with regional parties, the government failed. In Punjab, while BJP was rejected, AAP replaced it. A similar situation was seen in Telangana, Andhra and Bihar.”

NCP founder Sharad Pawar will hold his maiden public rally since the rebellion by his nephew, Ajit Pawar, in Yeola taluka of Nashik district on Saturday.Yeola is the home turf of veteran NCP politician Chhagan Bhujbal, who is in the Ajit Pawar faction and is now a minister in the Sena-BJP-NCP government. The elder Pawar's rally will be the first in a series planned across the state, mainly in the seats of politicians who sided with Ajit.Pawar has given the responsibility of organising the Yeola rally to Manikrao Shinde, a Bhujbal rival. The party had suspended Shinde after the 2019 assembly election for allegedly working for Bhujbal's opponents. "I was re-inducted into the party this morning (Wednesday) in the presence of Sharad Pawar in Mumbai," Shinde said.

As the powerful faction of NCP has entered the ruling BJP-Sena fold, the voices of dissent are getting louder and clear. The Shinde camp that virtually pulled the Uddhav Thackeray government over a year ago by joining BJP is indicating that NCP's joining could take away from them some respectable positions in the government they otherwise would have enjoyed.

Shinde camp was reported to be holding a meeting of all its prominent leaders at the CM's official bungalow Varsha apparently to decide on the distribution of portfolios.


Shiv Sena (Shinde Faction) leader Sanjay Shirsat while talking to a section of media on Wednesday raised the concerns of the Shinde faction with the current government. He indirectly admitted that some of the leaders of the Shinde bloc were not happy with Ajit Pawar faction joining the NDA government.