MUMBAI: Though Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is claiming that he is still with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), he has refused to come back with the NCP leaders to meet party chief Sharad Pawar.
On Sunday again all efforts by NCP leaders to convince Ajit Pawar to return failed.
On Sunday, Ajit Pawar praised his uncle and party chief Sharad Pawar as ‘Saheb’ who is ‘our leader’. He further said that he has not left the NCP.
NCP legislators Dilip Valse-Patil and Jayant Patil tried to change his mind. Both the leaders were at his residence in Mumbai in the morning for more than three hours.
NCP State President and party leader Jayant Patil said that attempts were being made to convince Ajit Pawar to reconsider his decision of rebelling against the NCP.
Jayant Patil reminded Ajit Pawar that the latter was one of NCP’s founding members. “We all have grown under the guidance of Pawar Saheb (Sharad Pawar). But in the interest of the State, Pawar Saheb has taken the decision not to go with the BJP,” he said while talking with Ajit Pawar.
“I am in the NCP and shall always be in the NCP and Sharad Pawar Saheb is our leader. Our BJP-NCP alliance shall provide a stable government in Maharashtra for the next five years, which will work sincerely for the welfare of the state and its people,” Ajit Pawar later tweeted.
He claimed that all the MLAs were with him and he backed the BJP on the basis of their support. However, only 11 MLAs were with him and almost all have returned to NCP. MLA Daulat Daroda was missing from Saturday, he also came back to the NCP.
The NCP claimed they have 49 MLAs in the party fold and three of its MLAs, who went ‘missing’, have been contacted. Till Sunday, five NCP MLAs - Daulat Daroda (Shahapur), Nitin Pawar (Kalwan), Narhari Zhirwal (Dindori), Babasaheb Patil (Ahmedpur), Anil Patil (Amalner) - were among those who were missing, Nawab Malik said.
