NCP's Pune city unit passes resolution backing Sharad Pawar has party head

The Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Pune city unit on Tuesday passed a resolution announcing their support for party chief Sharad Pawar and affirmed that the party headed by him is the "real" NCP.

The resolution was passed in a meeting held here in the presence of the NCP's city unit president Prashant Jagtap, Pune spokesperson Ankush Kakade, Rajya Sabha MP Vandana Chavan, party leader Ravindra Malavadkar, and several party workers were present.

The party in the resolution condemned the BJP's "dirty political stand" and stated that the saffron party was aware that without finishing the NCP, it will not be able to achieve its "desired" objective.

On Sunday, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar led a vertical split in the party to become a deputy chief minister in the one-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP government, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the party 24 years ago after quitting the Congress.

Apart from Ajit Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, were sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde cabinet.

"Today, the NCP is going through a difficult situation. While the party founded by Sharadrao Pawar is entering its silver jubilee year, confusion has been created among people because of a different stand taken by some leaders," the resolution stated.

Sharad Pawar created several generations of leaders in politics and was instrumental in giving several posts and positions to them, but some remained "ungrateful", it said.

A "politics of vendetta" is being witnessed in the country since 2014 and the developments that took place two days ago are part of that politics, the resolution said.

"The BJP is doing all this knowing that without finishing the NCP their desired goal will not be achieved. We condemn their 'dirty political stand' in strong words," he said.

The resolution further asserted that the NCP headed by Sharad Pawar is the "real" party.

"We will stand strong behind Sharadrao Pawar and will abide by any decision he takes. We express our faith in the NCP, headed by him, and state that the Pune NCP is with him." the resolution said.