NCP Chief Pawar to address public meeting in Maharashtra's Karad today

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will visit Karad town in Maharashtra's Satara district and address a public meeting.

The NCP said that the party supremo will visit the Preeti-Sangam memorial of his political mentor and the first chief minister of Maharashtra Yashwantrao Chavan at 10 am today. The party in a tweet had appealed to Sharad Pawar's supporters to arrive at the memorial.

The NCP chief along with former Maharashtra Chief Minister YB Chavan are then expected to address party supporters in Karad.

"We will go to Satara where we will pay obeisance at the tomb of Late Deputy Prime Minister Yashwantrao Chavan. Hundreds of thousands of workers are ready to go to Satara with Sharad Pawar," Pune City NCP President Prashant Jagatap told ANI.

Pawar's address at Karad is set to be the first public meeting after Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar's nephew joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra and took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday in a surprise and dramatic political move that changed political equations in the state ahead of Lok Sabha and assembly polls next year and has ramifications for national politics.

The move by Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government came amid efforts by opposition parties to forge unity to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls. Sharad Pawar, a former Mahrashtra Chief Minister, has been a key leader in opposition unity efforts.

Hitting out at NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Eknath Shinde said that some people were talking about "googly" but everyone saw who was clean bowled and "it's a hit wicket".

"This is not a new government, Shiv Sena and BJP government were functioning under PM Modi's leadership. Development work was going on and Ajit Pawar who believed in the development work, supported and joined the government," the Maharashtra chief minister said.

"I welcome him and his MLAs wholeheartedly. He has a lot of MPs and MLAs which will definitely help in the development of Maharashtra. This double-engine government will now run at the speed of a bullet train.

"The Maha Vikas Aghadi government is broken... Some people were talking about googly and clean bowled, but everyone saw today who was clean bowled...it's a hit wicket", Shinde added. The NCP party has filed a disqualification petition with the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar against its nine leaders.

"We have filed a disqualification petition with the Speaker of the Assembly, and we will send hard copies as soon as possible. This disqualification petition was filed against nine leaders," said NCP leader Jayant Patil adding that a letter has also been sent to the Election Commission of India.