Pawar seeks legal opinion: NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who suffered a major blow necessitated by party leader Ajit Pawar’s joining the rival alliance’s government, is now seeking legal opinion to deal with the crisis caused by his own nephew and claiming the support of most of the MLAs, sources said on Tuesday (July 4).
Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government on Sunday and took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister, along with eight other MLAs of NCP who were sworn in as ministers.
Sharad Pawar, who returned from Satara on Monday night, is holding discussions with legal experts on the ways to tackle the ongoing crisis, NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said.
"Taking a legal opinion is necessary as this issue concerns Schedule 10 of the constitution," he said.
10th Schedule of Constitution
The 10th Schedule of the Constitution talks about the anti-defection law and has been put in place to prevent political defections which might be prompted by the lure of office, material benefits or similar considerations. It also deals with disqualification on defection ground and the role of the speaker or the chairman of the House.
Crasto said that the Ajit Pawar faction does not have the backing of over 13 MLAs and hence can be disqualified under the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.
"A clear picture of the support of Sharad Pawar will emerge tomorrow (Wednesday) at the meeting convened by Sharad Pawar at 1 pm," Crasto said.
Notably, the Ajit camp had claimed that they have the support of at least 40 (out of 53) MLAs of NCP.
What had Sharad Pawar said earlier on taking legal options?
It is worth mentioning that when Sharad Pawar was asked if he would resort to taking legal remedy following Ajit’s swearing in on Sunday, he had said that he would not get into all this but will go among people.
The NCP had moved a petition before Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and sought the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and the eight MLAs who accompanied him to the Maharashtra government.
Sharad Pawar sacked NCP’s working president Praful Patel and general secretary Sunil Tatkare for their ‘anti-party activities’ after they attended the oath-taking ceremony of Ajit Pawar and other rebel MLAs.
On the other side, the Ajit faction has asked the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad from membership of the House.
Patel on Monday appointed Ajit Pawar as the leader of the NCP legislature party and Sunil Tatkare as the president of the state NCP unit.
(With PTI inputs)
ALSO READ | Maharashtra NCP crisis: Sharad Pawar disqualifies Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare
ALSO READ | Pawar vs Pawar: Sackings and counter-sackings dominate Day 2 as NCP fight intensifies | 10 Points
