Sharad Pawar's decision to resign as NCP chief rejected by party panel
The NCP's Core Committee passed a proposal requesting party chief Sharad Pawar to continue to lead the party.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday passed a resolution rejecting Sharad Pawar's resignation as party president and has requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded, senior NCP Praful Patel said after the party's core committee meeting to choose its next chief.
The decision was taken days after Sharad Pawar dropped a bombshell saying he would step down from the post. Celebrations by NCP party workers erupted soon after senior NCP Praful Patel announce the committee's decision at a press conference.
“Mr Pawar expressed his desire to step down as president of the party. We unanimously reject the resignation. We have decided unanimously that we will request him to carry on as party president,” Patel said at the press conference.
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Patel added that many top leaders of the country in the past few days have reached out to Pawar, Supriya Sule and even him and expressed their sentiments. “We have seen the sentiments of the cadre from across districts. Everyone has expressed that he shouldn't be stepping down (as party chief),” he said.
"There is sadness, and they are hurt and upset. We can't ignore that. Whatever decision Mr Pawar took he didn't take us into confidence. We had a meeting today after he gave us the responsibility to choose the next party chief. Today, the committee in its meeting has passed a resolution unanimously," Patel said.
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule along were seen arriving at the party office in Mumbai to attend the meeting.
The 18-member committee that met comprised Patel, Sunil Tatkare, KK Sharma, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Sule, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaidev Gaikwad, Narhari Jhirwal, Fauzia Khan, president, Nationalist Mahila Congress, Dheeraj Sharma, president Nationalist Youth Congress.
NCP workers were seen raising slogans in support of Sharad Pawar, urging him to reconsider his decision. Sharad Pawar had on Tuesday announced his resignation from the party president's post.
Ajit Pawar supported the former's decision saying that the next party chief will work under Sharad Pawar.
The statement was instantly met with emotional protests from party workers and leaders, who urged the veteran MP to reverse his decision.
Jayant Patil had said that even though Sharad Pawar has taken the decision, people from accross Maharashtra and other places people are requesting him to take back his decision.
(With inputs from agencies)
