Meets Pune NCP leaders as many defect to Sharad Pawar camp.
The NCP was dealt a serious blow on Wednesday when 25 leaders, including Ajit Gavhane, the president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, left the party and joined the NCP(SP).
Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party and the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, met with Pimpri Chinchwad party leaders on Thursday in Pune following a significant setback to the NCP by the local leadership.
This incident occurs just one day after the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) and 25 other leaders, including Ajit Gavhane, the chief of the Pimpri-Chinchwad branch, left the NCP with a big shock.
Along with Gavhane, prominent Pimpri-Chinchwad unit NCP officials Rahul Bhosale, Pankaj Bhalekar, and Yash Sane also left the party on Tuesday and joined the NCP(SP) the following day at Pune party chairman Sharad Pawar's home. The remaining members are ex-corporators who have switched sides.
"We are now members of Sharad Pawar's party. Gavhane had stated, "We think that only this party can move Pimpri-Chinchwad and the rest of Maharashtra forward."
The political developments coincided with a rising dissension within the NCP following its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it managed to secure just one seat. Ajit Pawar no longer has an easy connection with the leaders of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, according to past claims made by NCP staffers.
According to a journal called "Vivek," which is linked with the RSS, voter sentiment in Maharashtra shifted against the BJP when it formed an alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which resulted to the saffron party's poor performance.
The NCP-SP claims that this is a subliminal message to Ajit Pawar to quit the Maharashtra ruling party.
After Ajit Pawar and a few other MLAs left Sharad Pawar's cabinet and joined the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition, the NCP split in July of last year. Along with eight other loyalist MPs, Ajit Pawar took the oath of office as deputy chief minister and became a minister.
The Maharashtra assembly's term expires on November 26. Later this year, the state is expected to hold elections.
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