NCP President Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that the NCP poll symbol of the clock will remain with him and no one can snatch it. Hi comment came after rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission and staked claim to the party name and poll symbol.


Sharad Pawar further said that those who have no interest in people's welfare are running the country. He further said that his faction of the NCP would keep working for people. "India's reins are in the hands of those who are not bothered about people's interests... We don't have any hunger for power. We will keep working for the people... We have to keep marching ahead despite the hurdles in our way," Sharad Pawar said.


Referring to the Ajit Pawar rebellion, the NCP chief said that if someone had any grouse, they should have discussed about it within the party. "Ajit Pawar should have spoken to me if he had any problems. If he had something on his mind he could have approached me. No democratic process can run without communication," the senior Pawar said.


ALSO READ | Ajit Pawar, Forever CM-In-Waiting, Pulls Off Sunday Shocker. What Led To His 'Rebellion' Against Sharad Pawar


The meeting of NCP leaders that was called by Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai has ended. Sharad Pawar reportedly has the support of 14 MLAs while his nephew Ajit Pawar has the support of 29 MLAs. Notably, Ajit Pawar needs the support of at least 36 MLAs (Two-thirds of elected leaders in the assembly) to avoid the anti-defection law. NCP has 53 MLAs in the Maharashtra assembly.


Meanwhile, addressing NCP workers' meeting, Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that his political achievements till date is because of party chief and his uncle Sharad Pawar. "Whatever I am is because of Sharad Pawar," Ajit Pawar said.


"In the 2004 Vidhan Sabha election, NCP had more MLAs than Congress. Had we not given Chief Minister post to Congress at that time, till date, Maharashtra would have had a Chief Minister only from Nationalist Congress Party," he added.


ALSO READ | Maharashtra Political Crisis: Ajit Pawar Stakes Claim To NCP's Name And Clock Symbol


NCP leader Praful Patel at MET Bandra, said, "When we could accept the ideology of Shiv Sena, then what is the objection in going with BJP? We have joined this alliance as an independent entity.  Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah went with BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and they are now part of the joint opposition. I went to the joint opposition meeting in Patna with Sharad Pawar, and I felt like laughing when I saw the scene there. There were 17 opposition parties there, 7 of them have only 1 MP in the Lok Sabha and there is one party that has 0 MPs. They claim they will bring change... This decision (of joining NDA) we have taken is for the nation and our party and not for personal gain."






President of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray on Tuesday again hinted that the recent political developments in Maharashtra may have the approval of Sharad Pawar, the supremo of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). During a press conference, Thackeray criticized the split in the NCP and Ajit Pawar's move to the Eknath Shinde-BJP government. He said it was an insult to the voters of Maharashtra. He pointed out that Sharad Pawar himself initiated such political manoeuvres in the state, dating back to 1978 when he experimented with the formation of the Purogami Lokshahi Dal (PuLoD) government.


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