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Soon after Sharad Pawar removed party Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare from the NCP “for indulging in anti-party activities”,\u00a0the Ajit Pawar camp hit back by replacing Jayant Patil as party\u00a0state president with Sunil Tatkare.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Along with Praful Patel and MP Sunil Tatkare, the NCP also sacked three party leaders – Narendra Rathod, Vijay Deshmukh and Shivajirao Garje – for attending the oath ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Sunday.\u00a0While Praful Patel announced that Ajit Pawar has been appointed the “Group Leader” of the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The Sharad Pawar faction\u00a0has submitted a petition to the Speaker of Maharashtra assembly, Rahul Narvekar, seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and his eight loyalists. The party has also written to the Election Commission of India (EC) conveying that Sharad Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999, continues to head the party and that there is no change in the leadership.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Ajit Pawar declared that the disqualification notices have “no value”. “There are notices against 9 of us, I don’t think the notice has any value… We have the party with us,” he said. In a counter move, the rebels also filed a disqualification petition against Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The Ajit Pawar camp will now have its new office near the state secretariat. Sources said the new ‘Rashtrawadi Bhavan’ will be inagurated today. The current party office is located at Ballard Estate. Ajit Pawar and his aides, including MP Praful Patel, insist that they are the party and not any breakaway faction.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Amid the turmoil, the Congress will hold a crucial meeting today to discuss the future course of action. The party seeks the post of leader of opposition as it has the maximum number of MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly – a demand that has NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s backing.\u00a0“The party which has the maximum number of MLAs can demand the post, it’s a valid demand,” said Pawar senior.\u00a0On Sunday. Jitendra Awhad was made the Leader of Opposition replacing Ajit Pawar.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Team Uddhav Thackeray will also hold a meeting today to discuss the recent political developments in the state. An editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ has claimed that Ajit Pawar will replace Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
In a show of strength, Sharad Pawar visited the memorial of his mentor and Maharashtra’s first chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan in Satara district yesterday and vowed to rebuild the party.\u00a0He said the BJP was trying to “destroy” all Opposition parties. “My fight against communal forces begins today. Such rebellions happen. I will rebuild the party,” Mr Pawar said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Asked whether Ajit Pawar’s rebellion on Sunday had his blessings, the NCP chief said, “It is a mean thing to say. Only those with a mean and low intellect can say this.”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
The NCP split vertically on Sunday after Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, with eight other NCP MLAs taking oath as ministers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n