To attend meetings of the Sharad and Ajit Pawar factions on the same day, NCP MLAs get separate whips
The Nationalist Congress Party, chaired by Sharad Pawar, has convened a significant meeting for Wednesday in Mumbai and has issued a whip requiring all Legislative Assembly members to attend. Ajit Pawar, the recently appointed deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, is the leader of the opposing group, which has also scheduled a meeting for all of its lawmakers on the same day.
According to reports, NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, who is headed by Sharad Pawar, announced in a one-line whip on Tuesday that the meeting would be held on July 5 at 1 PM at the YB Chavan Center and has been personally summoned by the chairman. Additionally, it said that MLAs must be present.
Sharad Pawar appointed Jitendra Awhad as chief whip after Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde administration on July 2.
The Ajit Pawar campaign also sent out an invitation to all current and former lawmakers, parliamentarians, office holders, working committee members, and others on Tuesday, inviting them to a meeting that would be held on Wednesday at the premises of the MET institute in suburban Bandra and hosted by Sunil Tatkare, the group’s choice for president of the Maharashtra unit.
#WATCH | Before the NCP leaders meeting that Ajit Pawar organized, supporters of Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister greeted him at his Devgiri bungalow in Mumbai. pic.twitter.com/hbR83kmlWH
— ANI (@ANI), 7/7/2023
Shivajirao Garje, who was kicked out of the Sharad Pawar-led party for “engaging in anti-party activities,” issued the notification.
The Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad campaigns for Ajit Pawar have urged Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to remove them from their positions as legislators.
Anil Bhaidas Patil, who took oath as a minister on Sunday, would continue to be the party whip in the Assembly. Sharad Pawar ousted former NCP working president Praful Patel from the party and replaced him with Ajit Pawar on Monday.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP has filed a petition with Speaker Narwekar asking that Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs be disqualified from serving as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led cabinet.
53 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are members of the NCP.
