Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Baramati MP and NCP(SCP) leader Supriya Sule trained guns on her Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and cousin Ajit Pawar who broke away from a faction of the party causing conflict over which camp is the real NCP.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Sule who is working president of the NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar said that the Nationalist Congress Party was Ajit Pawar's to keep but he chose to "disrupt all our lives and go away". She said that she was happy to give the mantle of the party to him.
"I never asked for it (NCP leadership). He was going to get it," Sule remarked. "Arey maang leta na sab de deti. Party lene ki jarurat nahi thi (I would have given the leadership to him had he asked. There was no need to snatch the party)," she added.
She also rejected allegations that Sharad Pawar was biased towards his daughter. "I am ready for an open debate with Ajit Pawar or anyone from his camp on this," she said.
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Sule said there was no conflict over the succession of the party but the way Ajit Pawar went was wrong. "He chose to disrupt all our lives and go away. He had the option; it was all for him to keep," she said.
"It was not about succession. This is about an alliance (Ajit Pawar joining the BJP-Shiv Sena camp)," she added.
Sharad Pawar had walked away with a majority of party MLAs in July last year and extended support to the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. He was awarded the post of Deputy Chief Minister alongside Devendra Fadnavis.
The vertical split in the party also resulted in a battle over the party's name and symbol with the Election Commission declaring the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the 'real NCP' based on the legislators' support.