No Split in NCP, Ajit Pawar Still Its Leader, Says Sharad Pawar

Pune: In a surprising statement, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday claimed that there was no split in the party and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar continued to be its leader.

According to him, some leaders have left the NCP by taking a “different political stand”, but it cannot be termed as a split.

Sharad Pawar told this to newsmen at Baramati in Pune district. A day back, his daughter and party’s working president Supriya Sule had claimed that Ajit Pawar was still a senior leader and MLA of the NCP. Sule is NCP’s Baramati MP.

“What does a split in a political party mean? Split occurs when a large group in a party is separated at the national level. But no such thing has happened here. Some people left the party, some took a different stand…In democracy it is their right to take a decision,” was the statement of Sharad Pawar on Friday.

On July 2, Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Maharashtra.