Praful retains Sharad as NCP national prez, sacks Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant
In a significant decision taken a day after the dramatic split in his party, NCP chief Sharad Pawar expelled party’s newly appointed working president Praful Patel and party leader Sunil Tatkare from the primary membership of the party for “anti-party” activities. Meanwhile, his party moved Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking the disqualification of key rebel leader Ajit Pawar and eight other party leaders.
In a counter move akin to the one witnessed after the Eknath Shinde-engineered split in the Shiv Sena in June last year, breakaway NCP working resident Praful Patel, “retained” NCP chief Sharad Pawar as the national president. He sacked NCP state president Jayant Patil and appointed rebel leader Sunil Tatkare in his place with immediate effect.
Announcing the removal of Patel and Tatkare, Sharad said in a letter issued to them that the two leaders had indulged in “anti-party” activities by “facilitating and spearheading” defections of nine MLAs, including Ajit Pawar, “in a surreptitious manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president.”
The NCP chief said that the acts by the two leaders amounted to a “clear and absolute” violation of Article 32 of the Constitution of the NCP and the rules framed under Article 21 (vi)(a) of the party constitution. “Your actions of supporting Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs who were sworn in as ministers in violation of the party’s direction and mandate,” Sharad Pawar said, “amounted to the desertion of the party, which in turn invites disqualification from the primary membership.”
In his letter to the two leaders, the NCP chief asked them to refrain from misrepresenting before any forum that they had any association with the NCP. “Any such act of misrepresentation would be absolutely unlawful and illegal,” he said.
Swift in acting against the nine NCP MLAs, including Ajit Pawar, who were sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Government, the NCP rushed its newly appointed leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jitendra Awahad to the residence of Assembly Speaker in the small hours of Monday with a petition seeking the disqualification of Ajit and eight other party MLAs.
Apart from Ajit, the other breakaway party leaders against whom the NCP has moved the disqualification proceedings are MLAs Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Aditi Sunil Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil.
On Monday morning, Sharad himself called up the Speaker to confirm the delivery of the petition seeking the disqualification of nine MLAs.
On his part, Speaker Narwekar confirmed the receipt of the disqualification petition sent by Sharad. However, he said that he was not aware of the exact number of MLAs who were supporting rebel leader Ajit Pawar. “I have absolutely no idea as to how many MLAs are supporting Ajit Pawar,” Narwekar said.
Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil said that his party had written to the Election Commission of India, stating that the “nine MLAs have engaged in anti-party activities and the moment they took the oath as ministers, they stood disqualified.”
Contesting the NCP leadership’s decision to seek disqualification of nine MLAs, including Ajit, for anti-party activities, Praful Patel said, “Nobody has the right to take action or disqualify any of the leaders who have decided to join the Maharashtra government.”
Addressing a news conference along with Patel, Ajit Pawar said that only the Speaker had the authority to appoint the LoP based on the majority strength of the opposition legislators. “We are all very much in the NCP. A maximum number of legislators are with us. So the action or new appointments don’t make any sense,” Ajit Pawar said.
Meanwhile, NCP working president Supriya Sule, MP, said that she had earlier written a strong letter to Sharad, demanding immediate action against Praful and Tatkare, both MPs.
“Patel and Tatkare, on July 2, 2023, acted in direct contravention of the Party Constitution and Rules, amounting to desertion and disqualification from the party membership. I request Pawar Saheb to take immediate action and file disqualification petitions under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India before the Competent Authority against the two MPs for engaging in anti-party activities,” Sule said, while confirming that she had written a letter to Sharad Pawar.
Simultaneously holding out an olive branch to her cousin brother and breakaway rebel leader Ajit Pawar, Sule said, “Ajitdada will always remain my elder brother. I will be very happy if the party rebels return. I was not privy to any information. The BJP is doing all this because the BJP lacks confidence ahead of the 2024 elections.”