A day after senior state Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and current leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly Ajit Pawar indirectly staked a claim for the State party president’s post, senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal said here on Thursday that an OBC leader should be considered for the State party chief’s post.
A leading OBC leader and founder-President of Akhil Bhartiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad, Bhujbal made a counter-claim for the State NCP chief’s post, saying: “If the LoP is with Marathas, then the state party’s chief should go to an OBC community or to a smaller community”.
Apparently alluding to remarks made by Ajitdada – as Ajit Pawar is known in the state political circles, Bhujbal said here on Wednesday “Our party has internal democracy. Everyone has a right to express his right to express his opinion. We have someone who wants to occupy a different position and wants to work within the party. I also want to express my opinion. I was made the state party president in the past for a brief period of four months. As a consequence, the BJP also made an OBC leader like Babankule as the state party president.”
“Our party also has OBC leaders. We have leaders like Sunil Tatkare, Dhanjay Munde and Jitendra Awahad... If I am given responsibility in the party I will also work... I strongly feel that a leader from the OBC community should be made the state party president,” Bhujbal said.
Interestingly, party leaders like Tatkare and Awhad were vested with party posts at the national level, when NCP chief Sharad Pawar carried out an organisational re-jig on June 10.
While it is not clear yet if Bhujbal’s claim for the post of state party chief is genuine one or an orchestrated one made with an intention to nullify Ajitdada’s claim for the state party president’s post.
On Wednesday, Ajitdada – apparently upset after Sr Pawar appointed party’s senior leader Praful Patel and his daughter-MP Supriya Sule as the party’s working presidents -- had said on on Wednesday he had no interest in continuing as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly and instead he preferred to accept any responsibility in the party.
Speaking at a function organised to mark the NCP’s 25th foundation day, Ajitdada – as Ajit Pawar is known in the state political circles – told the party leadership : “I am not interested in continuing in the post of the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly. Relieve me of the Opposition leader’s post and give me any post in the party. I will do justice to the party post”.
Ajitdada’s statement, which came as a surprise to Sr Pawar and his other party leaders, is being interpreted in the state political circles in two ways. First, through his statement, he wanted to express his dissatisfaction over the manner in which he was sidelined by the NCP chief in the organisational restructuring that he carried out on June 1o, the day when the NCP entered 25th year of its formation.