At NCP foundation day, Ajit Pawar gets emotional while referring to Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: Twenty-five years after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was launched by Sharad Pawar, parallel foundation day celebrations were held for the first time even as Ajit Pawar got emotional while referring to his uncle.

The NCP was formed on 10 June, 1999, however, just after the 24th anniversary celebrations, Ajit Pawar walked out of his mentor and uncle’s fold and joined the BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) to become the deputy chief minister alongside BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis in the Eknath Shinde-led dispensation. Later, he successfully claimed the “real NCP party” and the iconic ‘clock’ symbol.

On the other hand, Sharad Pawar secured the party name NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and ‘man-blowing-tutari’ symbol.

The BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) has got a drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in 48 seats of Maharashtra at the hands of Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A).

In the polls, MVA won 30 seats - Congress (13) followed by Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) 9 and NCP (SP) 8 while on the other hand BJP won 9 seats, Shiv Sena 7 and Ajit Pawar-led NCP 1. A Congress rebel has won one seat as an Independent.

If one looks at the performance of Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) contested 10 seats and won eight - posting the best strike rate in the state.

On the other hand, Ajit Pawar’s NCP contested one seat and won just one seat of Raigad, where sitting MP Sunil Tatkare, who is state’s President emerged victorious.

Ajit Pawar wants party’s national president Praful Patel to be in the third edition of the Narendra Modi government, however, since the BJP has offered a minister of state rank, they have rejected it.

Addressing the NCP foundation day celebrations at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai, Ajit Pawar was emotional when he said: “In the last 24 years, Pawar Saheb has given a strong and efficient leadership…I thank him for that.”

In Ahmednagar, where the NCP (SP) held the celebrations, Sharad Pawar said that the process of ‘decentralisation’ of power has been initiated in India after the just-concluded Lok Sabha 2024 general elections. “People have voted wisely,” he said.