Ajit Pawar-led Faction has No Authority to Remove Me as Maharashtra NCP President: Jayant Patil

GG News Bureau

Mumbai, 4th July. Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil on Tuesday stated that the group led by Ajit Pawar has no authority to remove him from his position.

He also claimed that all 53 NCP MLAs support party president Sharad Pawar.

The Ajit Pawar group had appointed Sunil Tatkare as the Maharashtra NCP president in place of Jayant Patil the day before. It further asked that the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker remove Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad from the House.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had ousted the party’s working president Praful Patel and general secretary Tatkare for indulging in “anti-party” actions just hours before Jayant Patil was replaced by the Ajit Pawar camp.

The action was taken against Patel and Tatkare after they attended Ajit Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony as deputy chief minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government on Sunday, during which eight NCP MLAs joined as ministers.

“The faction led by (Ajit Pawar) is a ‘Notionalist’ Party. They have no right to remove me from the post (of NCP state unit president),” Jayant Patil told reporters.

He also said he had taken action against the nine MLAs who have joined the government.

The NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, had petitioned Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar for the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs.

“All MLAs are with us and you will know tomorrow,” Jayant Patil claimed.

The Ajit Pawar camp claimed in a letter to Raj Bhavan that they have the support of 40 NCP MLAs.