Ajit Pawar adamant, will not withdraw resignation

Praful Patel says NCP not keen to keep Dy CM post, creates ripples in party

The Nationalist Congress Party's legislative wing in Maharashtra failed to convince group leader Ajit Pawar to withdraw his resignation from the post of deputy chief minister. Instead, Pawar remained firm on his decision and has decided to go on a tour to attend party meetings and rallies in various parts of Maharashtra.

However, NCP leader and union minister for heavy industries Praful Patel announced that the party was not keen to keep the post of deputy chief minister in Maharashtra. The statement led to a hot debate within the party and also within its ally, the Congress, on whether NCP has already decided to pull out of the Democratic Front government in the state and continue to support from outside. Patel's statment caught NCP's state leaders unawares as they sought clarification from Ajit Pawar and state party chief Madhukar Pichad.

Further, Patel chose to make the statement in this regard in a bid to avoid wranglings within the party while making bids by party leaders for the post of deputy chief minister if Ajit Pawar sticks to his guns.

Meanwhile, the legislative wing unanimously passed a resolution requesting Ajit Pawar to withdraw his resignation immediately. It also passed another resolution for seeking appointment with NCP chief and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to apprise him of the situation and make their arguments. NCP's strength in the assembly is 62 while it has 25 members in the legislative copuncil and 12 independents are supporting NCP. Of these 99 members majority of them attended today's meeting.

State NCP chief Madhukar Pichad told reporters that party chief Sharad Pawar has agreed to meet the legislators and leaders on September 28 at the Y B Chavan Centre in south Mumbai to hear their views on Ajit Pawar's move to resign in the wake of allegations relating to irregularities in irrigation sector.

"So far, the party has not taken any decision on Ajit Pawar's decision and it is pending with the chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Besides, party's 19 ministers have submitted their resignation to me as a mark of solidarity and reaffirm their confidence in the leadership of Ajit Pawar. Those resignations are with me and I will discuss the future course of action in this regard with party chief Sharad Pawar on September 28," Pichad informed.

According to Pichad, the legislative wing was quite unanimous demanding Ajit Pawar to withdraw his resignation. "No political speeches were made during the meeting but it wwas the one line resolution was passed," he added.

Besides, the legislative wing also passed another resolution to condole the death of NCP leader and former state assembly speaker Babasaheb Kupekar.

Pichad said he had telephonic conversation with state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre who insisted that the efforts should be made to avoid any acrimonious scenes and verbal duel in the wake of present situation.