Contending that there was “no split” within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), rebel NCP leader Praful Patel on July 7 said that Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar had been “unanimously elected” as NCP president on June 30 in the presence of a majority of the party MLAs and rejected the decision of a party working committee meeting chaired by NCP chief Sharad Pawar to expel leaders of the rebel faction.
Mr. Patel, speaking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, flanked by Mr. Ajit Pawar and other rebel leaders by his side, said that more than 40 MLAs had supported Mr. Ajit Pawar’s nomination as NCP president following which their faction had staked claim to the party name and symbol from the Election Commission (EC).
“The party had held a meeting on June 30 in the presence of many MLAs and MLCs at ‘Devgiri’ [Mr. Ajit Pawar’s Mumbai residence]. In that meeting, Ajit Pawar was unanimously elected as NCP president. I was appointed as national working president by him [Mr. Ajit Pawar]. As a party, we then appointed Anil Bhaidas Patil as the NCP whip in the Legislative Assembly and Amol Mitkari as a whip in the Legislative Council. The same day we had given a petition to EC in Delhi, along with affidavits of more than 40 MLAs informing the EC about Ajit Pawar’s appointment and staking claim to the party name and symbol,” Mr. Patel said.
