NCP seeks disqualification of 5 MLCs who have switched sides
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has filed petitions seeking the disqualification of five of its MLCs who have defected to the Ajit Pawar faction. The move comes after similar disqualification petitions were filed against 40 MLAs. The NCP leader Sharad Pawar has stated that the rebel leaders will not be taken back into the party.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has filed petitions with the deputy chairperson of the council, Neelam Gorhe, seeking disqualification of five of its MLCs who have defected to the Ajit Pawar faction.
“The petitions have been filed in two stages. The first petition was filed by NCP legislature party chief Jayant Patil against four MLCs and the second once was filed by chief whip Jitendra Awhad against Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, former chairperson of the council,” a senior NCP leader, who did not want to be named, said.
Apart from Nimbalkar, the four other MLCs are Aniket Tatkare, son of Maharashtra president of Ajit-led faction Sunil Tatkare, Vikram Kale, Satish Chavan and Amol Mitkari who until recently was a vocal critic of right-wing outfits.
This is in addition to the disqualification petitions NCP has filed with the assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar against 40 MLAs. HT reported about it on September 9.
Another leader loyal to Pawar senior said, “As soon as we could identify the names of MLAs who had decided to shift their loyalty to the rebel faction, their disqualification petition was filed. This is the reason why a disqualification petition was first filed against nine MLAs followed by the second petition against 20 MLAs and the third one against 11 MLAs.”
The latest move assumes significance as it appears that Pawar wanted to remove all the confusions about his stand on the rebel faction. However, with this, it is now clear that Ajit has got complete control of NCP with 40 of its 53 MLAs and five of its nine MLCs.
Nimbalkar was once considered as a trusted aide of the party patriarch and belongs to one of the royal families in Maharashtra. Narvekar is his son-in-law. The six-year term of Tatkare as MLC is going to end on May 31 next year while that of Mitkari will conclude in May 2026, Chavan in December 2026, Nimbalkar in July 2028, and Kale in February 2029.
On Sunday, at a meeting of district presidents, MLAs, MPS and former elected representatives, Pawar announced that the doors of the party were shut for the rebel leaders.
“We are not taking them back,” Pawar said and added, “Those who stayed with us in the time of crisis are the real leaders and we are going to fight the polls along with them.”
The meeting was called to review the preparations for the upcoming elections.
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