Ideals were ignored in NCP as focus was on power, says Jayant Patil

Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil on Wednesday said since the party was in power for a long time, little emphasis was given to the principles on which it was built as the focus was on power.

Addressing party workers on the first day of the NCP's two-day conclave at Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, Patil said the party is firmly grounded on the ideals of social reformers Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Dr B R Ambedkar. "Pawar saheb built this party based on ideals, but since we were in power for a long time, we ignored the ideals and focused on power," he said.

"When we were in power, we gave little emphasis to the thought of focusing on ideals which is why some people got attracted to different principles without giving any thought to it," Patil said, in an apparent dig at the Ajit Pawar-led group of the NCP. He said 2024 will be a year of struggle and urged party workers to fight this ideological battle.

Founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, the NCP was in power in Maharashtra until 2014 since the party's formation. After a gap of five years, the party again became a part of the state government in 2019 with Uddhav Thackeray helming the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation till its collapse in June 2022.

The NCP was split in July last year after senior party leader Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs of the party joined the Eknath Shinde-led government of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also a part.