Sharad Pawar leaves for Delhi to attend NCP Nat'l Executive meeting

MUMBAI: Amid Maharashtra political crisis, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar on Thursday left for Delhi where he has called a National Executive meeting.

Meanwhile, posters saying "In the fight of truth and lie, the entire country is with Sharad Pawar" and "India's history is such that it has never forgiven those who have betrayed" come up outside NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence in Delhi.

However, later it was removed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

With the NCP witnessing the unravelling of the party, the Pawar family feud played out on stage on Wednesday as NCP factions headed by Sharad Pawar and his nephew held rival meetings at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and in Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.

While sources revealed that Election Commission has received a petition from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar staking claim to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the party symbol. The sources said the Election Commission has also received a caveat from Jayant Patil, who is with the Sharad Pawar group.

He also informed the panel that they have initiated a disqualification process against nine MLAs who joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state on Sunday.

The politics of Maharashtra is on the boil since Sunday as senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister of the state. Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government with 8 other MLAs and has claimed control over the Nationalist Congress Party.

On Wednesday, Ajit Pawar took a veiled dig at his uncle Sharad Pawar regarding his age that left the NCP Supremo's party members and loyalists fuming and resulted into a chain of reactions.

Ajit Pawar urged Sharad Pawar to step down and give a chance to the new generation stating that even leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retire at the age of 75.

The junior Pawar also has blamed the 82-year-old Sharad Pawar for NCP losing out on the chance to have a chief minister of Maharashtra despite having the support of a majority of MLAs in the year 2014.

"You portrayed me as a villain in front of everyone. I still have deep respect for him (Sharad Pawar)...But you tell me, IAS officers retire at 60...even in politics - BJP leaders retire at 75. You can see the example of LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi...That allows the new generation to rise..."

"You (Sharad Pawar) give us your blessings...The other day, he went to YB Chavan memorial...I have also been there...but you are 83, aren't you going to stop?...Give us your blessings and we will pray that you live a long life," said the Deputy Chief Minister while addresssing party legislators and other workers in Bandra here. Later in the day, NCP's working president Supriya Sule in a stern response asked the deputy CM not to disrespect her father.

"Disrespect us, but not our father (Sharad Pawar). This fight is against the Bharatiya Janata Party government. BJP is the most corrupt party in the country," said Sule in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"I saw 2019 elections, this 84-year-old man fought and won, age is just a number," Sule said further.

Meanwhile, Anil Deshmukh, NCP leader, and a loyalist Sharad Pawar also came for rescue and ended up calling his party chief a "Lion" and said, "82 saal ka sher abhi bhi zinda hai," (82-year-old Lion is still alive).