Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar at his residence in Delhi on Thursday, reinforcing the firm position of the Congress party amidst the ongoing situation within the NCP after the rebellion of Mr. Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar.
During the meeting, Mr. Gandhi also reiterated that the Congress did not seek to exploit the current crisis and would continue to stand behind the veteran politician.
Furthermore, the Congress top brass instructed its Maharashtra unit not to hastily claim the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) position in the Legislative Assembly and remain patient and allow the crisis in the NCP to settle down. Sources in both factions told The Hindu that 32 out of the NCP’s 53 MLAs were supporting Mr. Ajit Pawar, while 18 supported his uncle. The Congress is the only party in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition which has 45 MLAs. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has 17 MLAs in the House.
