Sharad Pawar attacks Ajit Pawar faction: ‘Breaking party for power is inappropriate’
Sharad Pawar said NCP leaders achieved the power they sought, but breaking the party for it was inappropriate, as they had power before.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday accused NCP leaders including state minister Dilip Walse Patil of splitting the party solely for power, labelling the decision as inappropriate.
Pawar was addressing party workers and supporters of Devdatta Nikam, the NCP (SP) candidate in Ambegaon, contesting against sitting MLA Walse Patil, a long-time representative of the constituency in Pune district.
The veteran political leader also said that the NCP had contested the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections with unity, securing 54 seats.
Pawar said that they formed the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and included two representatives from their district—one from Ambegaon and the other from Baramati, referring to Walse Patil and Ajit Pawar.
The NCP founder also said that they increased representation for the Indapur tehsil in Pune district by appointing their representative, Dattatray Bharne, to a ministerial position.
He claimed it was the party that empowered these leaders and that the party's success was a result of the hard work of NCP workers.
“The party came to power due to that success because of which they became ministers. But some of our colleagues did not remember this. Some of our colleagues took away 44 of the 54 MLAs and joined the other side and created a wrong picture in the state,” Pawar said.
He was referring to the bitter split in the NCP in 2023 when Ajit Pawar and his loyal MLAs aligned with the BJP and Shiv Sena to join the ruling Mahayuti alliance. Following this, Ajit Pawar obtained the party name and its clock symbol from the Election Commission.
“They got the power they desired. It is not that they had not got the power earlier but the move to break the party to obtain power was not appropriate,” said Pawar.
Criticising MLA Walse Patil, Pawar added that the representative of Ambegaon tehsil was also involved in the decision to pursue power by splitting the party.
“Ambegaon tehsil and people from Ambegaon were not part of that decision. But unfortunately, the representative of Ambegaon became a part of it. People were shocked as they had never thought of this,” said Pawar.
With PTI inputs
