As NCP Factions Fight, Sharad Pawar Says "No Split, Just Democracy"

Nearly two months after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra following a mutiny, the party's patriarch Sharad Pawar today denied reports of a split within NCP ranks.

Ajit Pawar, 63, was sworn in as the second Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra after months of speculation about his possible defection to the BJP, along with eight other leaders who followed him to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state.

Sharad Pawar, 82, said although a few NCP leaders have left the party to take a different political stance, this does not constitute a split.

"It's not like majority of the people from the party are going out. Some people have taken a different stand, democracy allows them to do so. It's not a split in the party," he said.

Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar's daughter and NCP's Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, reiterated her father's remarks saying that the party is united and that there is no alliance with the BJP.

"Our president is Sharad Pawar and our state president is Jayant Patil. That is the status of our party at the moment and we stand by it. Our party is not in an alliance in any form with the BJP. Some of our people took a different stand and as per the process we have shared our views and inputs on the same with the speaker," Ms Sule said.

"Now, he (Ajit Pawar) has taken a stand that is against the party, and we have given a complaint to the assembly speaker and are awaiting his response," she added.

Earlier this week, Sharad Pawar, without naming his nephew Ajit Pawar, took a dig at those who rebelled against the party by saying that some of its members had left after the central government launched an inquiry against them through the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Banners were put up by Ajit Pawar's faction in Maharashtra's Beed this month, welcoming Sharad Pawar and requesting him to "bless" his politically estranged nephew.

NCP banners carrying pictures of both the Pawars were put up across Beed hours before Sharad Pawar's rally in Parli. This came against a backdrop of a war of words between the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar and other parties of the state opposition grouping Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which also includes the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT), over a "secret" meeting that took place between the two Pawars at businessman Atul Chordiya's residence in Pune on August 12.

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