NCP chief Sharad Pawar removes Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare from party

MUMBAI: A day after the party suffered a split, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday removed party vice president Praful Patel and MP Sunil Tatkare from the party "for indulging in anti-party activities". Pawar said that NCP will also initiate appropriate proceedings for formal disqualification of these MPs.

The action came hours after party's working president Supriya Sule recommended action against the two leaders for "facilitating and spearheading swearing of nine MLAs as cabinet ministers" in BJP-Shiv Sena Maharashtra government.

Ajit Pawar, who was the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday. Eight other MLAs joined the government.

"Your actions of supporting Ajit Pawar and the eight other MLAs, who have sworn oath as Ministers in violation of the party's direction and mandate, ex-facie amount to anti-party activities and that you deemed to have voluntarily left the membership of Nationalist Congress Party," Pawar said in a communication which was also sent to the two party MPs. "I formally remove your names from the Membership Register of the Party in view of your actions of voluntarily giving up membership of the Nationalist Congress Party," it said.

The communication said the action of MPs, "in a surreptitious manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amounts to the desertion of the party, which in turn invites disqualification from primary membership". Praful Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP, has been a close associate of Pawar and was working president of NCP last month. He was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government along with Pawar.