A combative Sharad Pawar on Thursday said he remains the NCP president and is “still effective whether I am 82 or 92” even as his party colleagues ratified his decision to expel his rebellious nephew Ajit Pawar and 10 other leaders.
The assertions came after a meeting of the NCP Working Committee here called by Sharad Pawar, which the Ajit Pawar faction termed “illegal”. The meeting saw the Sharad Pawar faction attempting to consolidate its position in the legal fight to retain the party’s name and symbol with them.
As Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission informing the removal of Sharad Pawar as president and seeking to claim their faction as the real NCP, the Sharad Pawar faction made it clear that it would depend on the Supreme Court judgment and that a party is defined by its organisation and not by the legislature party.
Read | NCP working committee approves expulsion of Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel, and others who joined NDA
After the meeting, senior NCP leader PC Chacko told a press conference that all the 27 state units of NCP are solidly behind the senior Pawar and that the organisation is still intact with the faction. He said five of the 27 state presidents who could not attend the meeting, wrote to Pawar in support.
He refused to buy that the “problem in Maharashtra unit” is defining one for the NCP. “Not a single state has expressed no confidence in Pawar, not even the Maharashtra unit headed by Jayant Patel,” he said.
Chacko said the meeting passed a resolution expressing “full faith and confidence” in Sharad Pawar and ratified the decision taken by the party chief to expel Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and nine MLAs who have “joined hands with the BJP”. The nine MLAs include Ajit Pawar.
Incidentally, Sharad Pawar had tweeted the letter expelling Patel and Tatkare but has so far not made any public comment on this. Even on Thursday, he did not mention Ajit Pawar by name.
However when referring to Ajit Pawar’s missive to the Election Commission that he is the president, Sharad Pawar shot back, “I am the president of NCP. If someone says something else, then it is completely false, there is no truth in it. There is no importance if someone says something.”
To his nephew’s comments that he is 83 and should retire, Sharad Pawar said, “I am still effective whether I am 82 or 92.”
The senior Pawar also rubbished his nephew’s remarks that the meeting called by him was illegal, saying that it was called as per the party’s Constitution and if someone says something like this, he has no legal standing on this. He also said his faction would show its strength when the time comes and that they believe in the Election Commission.
On Ajit Pawar wanting to become chief minister for long, he said one can wish to be the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister or the Chief Minister and he wishes them well.
He said the party would think about approaching the Supreme Court only if the Election Commission ignores the states legal positions but at the same time, he expressed his faith in the body.
Sources said the Sharad Pawar faction also sent a letter to the Election Commission, questioning why he was not informed about Ajit Pawar staking claim for the party symbol.