Ajit Pawar needs 36 MLAs to claim the NCP name and symbol.
Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar is holding a meeting in New Delhi, after rebel Ajit Pawar knocked on the doors of the Election Commission demanding the party’s name and symbol. Ajit Pawar seems to have the support of most of the party MLAs.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, with the support of 40 elected office bearers (MLAs, MLCs and MPs), has claimed the name and symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
But Ajit Pawar needs 36 MLAs, a 2/3 majority of the party’s total 53 legislators, before the EC will consider his claim.
All the MLAs of the Ajit Pawar faction were kept in a Mumbai hotel, though their signed affidavits have been submitted to the EC.
Sources in the Election Commission said, according to the rebels’ letter, that they had appointed Ajit Pawar as party president on June 30, days before his shock move to defect to the ruling alliance.
During his speech, Ajit Pawar said that he aspires to become the Prime Minister and asked his uncle when he plans to retire. “In other parties, leaders retire after an age. In BJP, leaders retire at 75, when will you stop? You should also give a chance to new people. If we are wrong, tell us. Your age is 83, will you ever stop or not?” Ajit Pawar, 63, said.
The two factions of the NCP held separate meetings in Mumbai on Wednesday, where Ajit Pawar trumped his uncle with only 14 of the party’s legislators attending Sharad Pawar’s meeting.
As many as 32 of the 53 NCP legislators attended the meeting called by the Ajit Pawar group.
Ajit Pawar’s entry into the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra as deputy chief minister last week has sent the NCP into fire-fighting mode.
The move has also created major unrest among Shiv Sena MLAs who support Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The chief minister canceled all his appointments and called an emergency meeting of the party at his official residence last evening. Sources said MLAs are opposed to the alliance, noting that Sena founder Bal Thackeray would never have associated with the Nationalist Congress Party.
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