Kerala unit supports Sharad Pawar: The Kerala unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) extended its support to Sharad Pawar, hours after Ajit Pawar along with a section of MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra.
In a move that came as a surprise on Sunday afternoon, Ajit Pawar took oath as a Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, while eight MLAs of his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took oath as ministers.
"We are part of the NCP led by Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar and others cheated the party. Those who observe national politics will not be able to justify Ajit Pawar's decision. His action is guided by his greed towards power," Kerala Minister and senior NCP leader AK Saseendran said.
Saseendran, who is the Forest Minister in the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala, said the state unit of NCP will stand with the Left Front here.
"NCP will not take any stand to cooperate with the BJP. All the state units have the same opinion," he said.
What Sharad Pawar said?
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar, in his first press briefing after the NCP split, said that action would be taken against those party leaders who violated the party line and joined the state government.
He clarified that it was not the NCP’s decision to go with the BJP-Shiv Sena government.
Pawar further said that he would start reaching out to people to build the party afresh.
“The party's top office-bearers, including its state unit president and the national committee, will deliberate and take action against the colleagues who violated the party line,” he said.
"For us, one thing is important now that the state unit chief of the party and the party's national committee, those party colleagues who joined the government. It was not the party's stand. So those who violated the party line, the party will decide about action against them. There is a process for that. The action will be taken as per that process and it will be initiated," Pawar said.
What next for Sharad Pawar?
Last month in June, Pawar had announced his daughter Supriya Sule as the party’s working president, indicating that he is putting in place a succession plan and attempting to look at the future of the party. Weeks before the announcement, Pawar had announced to step down from the post of the NCP chief, however, he withdrew his decision within three days after the party workers protested and urged him to continue on the top post of the party.
His decision to step down came as a shock, however, it was expected that someone like Ajit Pawar or Supriya Sule would be appointed as the party chief. With Ajit expressing publicly that he wanted a rank in the party organisation instead of the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, reports emerged about him not being satisfied with NCP chief’s move of deputing his daughter Supriya on the chair of party’s working president.
It would be interesting to see if Sharad Pawar, who is being considered one of the top leaders of the Opposition which is aiming to unite against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, remains a prominent voice among the many leaders who are thriving to run for the Prime Ministerial race evidently in the next general elections.
(With PTI inputs)
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