Sharad Pawar to convene party's working committee meet in Delhi today

As the fight for the party name and symbol reached the Election Commission, Sharad Pawar said it is time to create a new generation of leaders

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar is in Delhi on Thursday to convene a working committee meeting of the party.

On Wednesday, Pawar had a meeting with 16 MLAs and office-bearers of the party’s frontal cells. The group collected affidavits from the workers, reposing trust in the leadership of Pawar and Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil.

Addressing party workers at the Y B Chavan Centre, Pawar said, “MLAs come, and can go anywhere. Don’t complain. Let them live happily, wherever they are. Till we are together, let’s work to create a new generation of leaders.”

Pawar said that the party workers should not worry about the MLAs leaving the party and that it was time to create a generation of new leaders.

He added that irrespective of whoever was staking claim to the party’s name and symbol, it was not possible to snatch it away.

Dismissing speculations that Maharashtra may have a new chief minister, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that Eknath Shinde will continue to be the chief minister of Maharashtra till 2024.

"All these talks of change of guard are false," Bawankule added.

A top BJP official said that the BJP wants to "weaken the MVA (alliance of the NCP, the Congress and the Shiv Sena) with the trio of Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. We want to fight both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2024 under this leadership. We think it’s a formidable force.”

On Wednesday, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met 29 NCP MLAs and expressed his desire to become the chief minister.

He asked his uncle, Sharad Pawar, to retire. “You are 83, aren’t you going to stop?” Ajit Pawar said.

He went on to blame Sharad Pawar for the NCP losing out on the chance to have a chief minister in 2004. "We had more MLAs than the Congress in 2004, but our senior leader allowed the Congress to bag the CM's post," Ajit Pawar said.

After the meeting, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said that Ajit Pawar has taken the right decision. "I met Ajit Pawar today. He has made the right decision," Athawale said.

Athawale said that be it a Hindu, Muslim or a Dalit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys the support of everyone. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking everyone together. Be it a Hindu, Muslim or a Dalit, PM Modi enjoys the support of everyone... Ajit Pawar told me that he had this thought in mind for quite some time. Two meetings (within the NCP) were also done to come together with the BJP but no conclusion was drawn," he said.

Meanwhile, old posters of the CP which had Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel alongside Sharad Pawar have been removed from outside the office premises in Delhi.

Another set of posters were seen outside the NCP office with "gaddar" written on them in a jibe at Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel's rebellious move.

On June 30, Ajit Pawar had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) as “NCP president” and staked claim to the party name and ‘clock’ symbol, two days before he joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government with eight party MLAs.

In response, Sharad Pawar filed a caveat with the ECI saying no order should be passed unless the poll panel takes note of his contention on Ajit’s petition. In his petition to the ECI, Ajit submitted: “I am NCP president, as such the party symbol should be allotted to me as per provisions of the symbol order, 1968.”