NCP(SP) leader claimed that NCP state chairman saw Sharad Pawar stay at a hotel in Nashik

Mumbai, 17 May: On Friday, a prominent figure said that the state chairman of the opposing Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had purportedly gone to a hotel in Nashik, Maharashtra, where a number of NCP (SP) leaders were lodging.

Former Minister Anil Deshmukh of the NCP (SP) informed reporters that state President Sunil Tatkare, who is headed by Ajit Pawar, had recently visited the same hotel in Nashik where state President Jayant Patil and NCP (SP) President Sharad Pawar were lodging during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

“Tatkare had left for the lodging… We’re not sure why. Even some of our party’s activists he met. Deshmukh said, “He has not gotten in touch with me or any other leaders in the NCP (SP),” but she did not specify when or in which hotel.

On May 20, Nashik will have elections. Chhagan Bhujbal, a prominent local member of the NCP and Minister, was apparently considering an LS ticket, but he is now dissatisfied with the party leadership.

In response to a query, he curtly said that Tatkare would not be given any consideration or opportunity to re-enter the NCP (SP) and that he would not be entertained in any way, putting an end to political conjecture about a potential equation change after the LS results.

Tatkare aligned himself with the Ajit Pawar group after the July 2023 split of the NCP, which was created by Sharad Pawar.

Tatkare, a serving member of parliament from the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency, is the MahaYuti-NCP joint candidate in the current parliamentary elections. He is up against Anant Geete, the nominee of the Maha Vikas Aghadi-Shiv Sena (UBT) combination.

Raigad was one of the eleven Lok Sabha constituencies that finished voting on May 7. The largest and fifth round of the LS election, which will include 13 seats—ten of which are in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region—will take place on May 20.