In an anti-climax to nearly 80-hour-long high-voltage drama that had unfolded after he declared that he was stepping down from his post, Sharad Pawar on Friday took back his earlier decision and said he would continue as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, thus restoring normalcy within his party.
Pawar said though he had decided to continue as the NCP chief, he considered it essential to develop someone as his successor who could accept any post or take up any responsibility within the party.
Within hours after a search-committee appointed to look for a successor to him rejected his resignation and requested him to continue in the post, Pawar said, “Having been in active politics for 63 long years, I had decided to give up political responsibilities. But the announcement I had made on May 2 plunged the party into turmoil and it resulted in unrest in the rank and file of the party. Countless party workers, leaders, office bearers and well-wishers rallied together and requested me to reconsider my decision. Even leaders from various political parties insisted that I re-accept the party chief’s post.”
Addressing a crowded news conference at the YB Chavan Centre in south Mumbai, Pawar said, “I am overwhelmed with the love, trust and faith bestowed in me. I can ill-afford not to honour these overwhelming sentiments that I should continue in the post. In view of the requests I received and the resolution by the party’s search committee rejecting my resignation and asking me to continue in the post, I have decided to roll back my decision to resign from the NCP chief’s post.”
With Pawar’s announcement to continue as the NCP chief, the curtain has come down on an unprecedented drama witnessed within the party after Pawar announced his decision to step down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a party he founded and built brick by brick after breaking away from the Congress as a rebel leader in 1999 and remained in the post for the past 24 years.
After Pawar’s announcement, hundreds of party workers had gone on a spontaneous agitation demanding the NCP chief to take back his resignation and continue in his post. While party leaders met him on several occasions and tried to convince him to continue in the post, the search committee appointed by the NCP chief on Friday rejected Pawar’s decision and asked him to continue in the post.
Thursday’s development helped regain full control over the party set up – especially after the intense speculation that his nephew and current leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajit Pawar might switch sides and join the ruling BJP along with a group of MLAs supporting him.
Pawar’s return as the NCP chief has put paid to the possibility of Ajit dada, as Ajit Pawar is known in the state political circles, indulging in misadventure like he did in November 2019 when he teamed up with BJP leader Devendera Fadnavis to form an eighty-hour-long Government in Maharashtra.
No wonder that immediately after he resumed his office as the NCP chief, Pawar announced his plans to make major organisational changes and develop new leadership within the party. “ In the coming days, I will concentrate on bringing about organisational changes, developing new leadership and taking the party’s aims and ideologies to the people in a big way,” he said.
Replying to an Ajit Pawar-related query, Pawar revealed that he had dropped hints to his nephew about his plans to step down as the party’s chief. Queried about Ajitdada’s reported move to quit the NCP, Sr Pawar said, “We cannot stop those who wish to quit”.
Pawar asked the party workers to prepare hard for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The 2024 Lok Sabha polls are extremely crucial. The Maha Vikas Aghadi should win as many seats as possible in the polls. Some surveys have predicted that the MVA will win 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. We should work hard and win as many seats as possible.”
