While the Ajit Pawar camp claimed the support of 40 out of the NCP’s 53 MLAs, two of them – Satara MLA Makrand Patil and North Karad MLA Balasaheb Patil – switched sides and returned to Sharad Pawar’s faction. Shirur MP Amol Kolhe too went back to Sharad camp.
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Just a day into the rebellion, some Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders who were seen with Ajit Pawar during his oath-taking ceremony as Maharashtra deputy chief minister returned to the Sharad Pawar camp even as the two factions announced action against each others leaders.
While the Ajit Pawar camp claimed the support the support of 40 out of the NCP 53 MLAs, two of them – Satara MLA Makrand Patil and North Karad MLA Balasaheb Patil – switched sides and returned to Sharad Pawar’s faction.
Shirur MP Amol Kolhe, who was also at Raj Bhavan, said on Monday that he was going back to Sharad Pawar’s group. “When there is conflict between the mind and the soul, listen to the soul. Perhaps the mind sometimes forgets the morality but the soul never,” the actor-turned-politician said in a post on social media.
Both Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar camps have called separate meetings in Mumbai on Wednesday in which the party’s MLAs, MPs, office-bearers and other leaders have been invited.
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According to Jayant Patil, the meeting of Sharad Pawar camp has been organised at Yashwantrao Chavan Auditorium while Ajit Pawar’s supporters will gather at the Mumbai Education Trust at Bandra in Mumbai run by Chhagan Bhujbal.
NCP crisis
On Sunday, July 2, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, backed by several NCP MLAs, joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister of the state. Along with Pawar, eight other NCP leaders, including senior leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde and Dilip Walse Patil, also took oath as ministers at a ceremony in Raj Bhawan.
In his first strike against his nephew’s group, Sharad Pawar sacked MPs Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare from the party on Monday. In a counter-move, Ajit’s group replaced Jayant Patil as NCP state president with Tatkare.
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Later in the day, the Sharad camp sent two petitions to the Assembly Speaker asking for disqualification of Ajit Pawar and the eight other NCP MLAs sworn in with him. In a counter, the Ajit-led faction asked the Speaker to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, who was appointed Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
