Ajit Pawar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, has asked his party leadership to relieve him of the responsibility of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly. Pawar, 63, Sharad Pawar’s nephew, has appealed to the NCP top brass to assign him a role in the party organisation. Pawar’s request came days after Sharad Pawar elevated his daughter Supriya Sule and party leader Praful Patel as party working presidents on June 10. Sule has been given responsibility of the state of Maharashtra while Praful Patel will look after party affairs in other states.
Ajit Pawar made his request to be relieved of LoP responsibilities while addressing the 24th Foundation Day event of the Nationalist Congress Party. “I am told that I don’t act tough as the Leader of the Opposition. I was never interested in working as Leader of Opposition but accepted the role on demand of the party MLAs. Assign me any post in the party organisation, and I will do complete justice to whatever responsibility I am entrusted with,” he said,
I am told that I don’t act tough as the Leader of the Opposition. I was never interested in working as Leader of Opposition but accepted the role on demand of the party MLAs.
Ajit Pawar took charge in tumultous times
Ajit Pawar took charge as the LoP in the Maharashtra Assembly in July 2022, after the Eknath Shinde-led government came to existence in the state. The formation of the new government came up after a faction of the Shiv Sena, under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) government, leading to its collapse.
Pawar’s comment comes amid reports that she was unhappy with the party’s decision to elevate Supriya Sule to the role of working president. Pawar, however, denied reports and said that he was happy with the decision. He had said the reports of him being unhappy were wrong and added that the committee formed at that time when Sharad Pawar resigned was to take two decisions. He stated, “Two decisions were to be taken at that time by the committee. The first was to request Sharad Pawar to withdraw his resignation and the second was to appoint Supriya Sule as the working president.”
Call ahead of Patna meet
Amid the ongoing exercise to unite opposition parties before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, termed NCP President Sharad Pawar as a bigger leader than Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and others.
Underlining the need for introspection and change, Pawar said, “If Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Jagan Mohan Reddy, N Chandrababu Naidu, K Chandrasekhar Rao and Nitish Kumar can win their respective states on their own, then Sharad Pawar is a bigger leader than all of them. Why cannot NCP work towards the goal to win Maharashtra on its own strength.”
Several opposition political parties are scheduled to meet in Patna to formulate a strategy to tackle the BJP. The mega meeting of the 17 opposition parties is scheduled to take place in Patna on June 23.
Get all the latest Politics News, politics news, today’s headlines, political news of India today, and more real-time, breaking India News, Entertainment News, Education News , Top Sports News, Live Cricket News, Technology News update, and state election election results at Republic World.
