Four top leaders of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have reportedly quit the party in Maharashtra's Pimpri Chinchwad, in what looks like a major blow to the party led by Sharad Pawar's nephew after a poor performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The four leaders are likely to join the party led by Sharad Pawar later this week, according to an NDTV report.
The report said that NCP's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief Ajit Gavhane is among those who have tendered their resignations to Ajit Pawar. The others are Pimpri Chinchwad Students' Wing chief Yash Sane, and former corporators, Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies - Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP - suffered a major loss in Maharashtra in the recent general elections. Known as the Mahayuti aliance, the BJP-led camp won just 17 of the 28 seats it contested. Of this, BJP won nine seats, Shinde's Shiv Sena won seven and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP got just one.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance - comprising Congress, Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena - exceeded expectations and won 30 of the 48 seats it fought on.
NCP VS NCP Again?
The Pawar family split into two political parties after a rebellion by Ajit Pawar against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar in 2023. After Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and was given the post of his deputy, a position he shared with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, Sharad Pawar remained in the Opposition camp and also lost the clock symbol of the party.
The resignations of the four top leaders of the Ajit Pawar faction comes amid speculation that some people in the party are willing to return to the Sharad Pawar fold.
Sharad Pawar said last month those who wanted to "weaken" his party would not be inducted, however, he said he would accept leaders who would not "hurt" the image of the party.
"Those who wanted to weaken the party would not be taken in. But those leaders who would help strengthen the organisation and not hurt the image of the party would be taken in," the report quoted Sharad Pawar as saying.
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