The crisis in the Maharashtra government triggered by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s resignation deepened on Wednesday with fissures surfacing within the NCP.
As the situation unfolded on Wednesday, there were indications that the Maharashtra DCM not only had issues with Maharash-tra CM Prithviraj Chavan, but also with the NCP leadership.
Following Ajit Pawar’s resignation, other NCP ministers in the state also proposed to resign despite Mr Sharad Pawar’s assurance that no other minister would quit. In political circles, this is being seen as a challenge to the NCP chief.
Sources from the NCP said Mr Sharad Pawar was fuming over the resignations of the ministers and also pulled up state NCP chief Madhukar Pichad for accepting the same. Earlier on Wednesday, a crucial meeting of NCP legislators called to discuss the situation in the aftermath of the resignation of Mr Ajit Pawar as DCM wound up within 20 minutes with a call for him to take back his papers.
MLAs expressed solidarity with the DCM and opposed his resignation. Twelve Independent MLAs supporting the NCP also said they would continue to support the government as long as Mr Ajit Pawar was part of it.
The MLAs insisted their demand that Mr Ajit Pawar not resign as DCM should be communicated to party president Sharad Pawar. They also passed a resolution that demanded a meeting with Mr Sharad Pawar in order to pursue the issue. After the meeting ended, Mr Pichad said Mr Sharad Pawar would visit Mumbai on Friday, meet the MLAs and listen to them.
Another event that has indicated a rift within the NCP is the fact that NCP president Sharad Pawar and Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel did not come to Mumbai.
In fact, Mr Patel had announced that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday had been postponed, but the state legislators went ahead with the meeting.
NCP leader and PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a supporter of Mr Sharad Pawar, said the party chief would be the one who would take the final decision for the party.