NCP crisis: Big show of strength in Sharad vs Ajit Pawar fight – check who is ahead

New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party is facing a crisis as the two groups are holding parallel meetings to show their might. NCP leader Sharad Pawar is meeting its members at YB Chavan Auditorium in Mumbai, while Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is at a meeting of NCP MPs, MLAs, MLCs, district heads and state representatives at Mumbai Education. Trust (MET) Bandra. There is Sharad Pawar’s photo on the dais of the meeting in YB Chavan Auditorium. The Ajit Pawar-led group has put up Sharad Pawar’s picture along with its leaders and also prominently displayed the party’s election symbol ‘clock’.

Party sources said that 35 out of 53 NCP MLAs were present in the party meeting convened by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday. News agency PTI quoted sources as saying that this number will increase further. PTI quoted sources as saying that five of the eight NCP MLCs are also attending the meeting being held in suburban Bandra. According to Anant Kalse, former Principal Secretary of the Maharashtra Legislature, the Ajit Pawar camp needs the support of at least 36 MLAs to avoid disqualification.

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Supporters of NCP chief Sharad Pawar gathered at his residence in south Mumbai on Wednesday, hours ahead of a show of strength meeting organized by him and Ajit Pawar, who broke away to become deputy chief minister. Outside Silver Oak, senior Pawar’s residence in south Mumbai, a party worker was seen holding a banner that read: ’83-year-old warrior fighting the battle alone’.

MLA Anil Patil claimed that 40 out of 53 party MLAs are with Ajit Pawar. These are the first meetings of party functionaries of the two factions after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Hasan Mushrif joined the Eknath Shinde government on Sunday. Both the factions have claimed that most of the MLAs are with them.

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The crisis in the Nationalist Congress Party has arisen after Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP on Sunday and became the Deputy Chief Minister in the Eknath Shinde government. Along with Pawar, eight other NCP MLAs took oath as ministers on Sunday. Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has filed a petition against nine MLAs seeking disqualification of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar.