Ajit Pawar led a shock rebellion against his party in June (File/PTI)
The official handle of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction on X - formerly Twitter - has been suspended after complaints by leaders of Sharad Pawar-led faction of the party.
The account on X represented Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's group under the name "NCP Speaks 1", created to convey important announcements and activities related to the party and its leaders.
"NCP Speaks 1" was suspended after multiple complaints by leaders of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, who claimed that the account was a copy of the original "NCP Speaks" account.
On Wednesday, Ajit Pawar said that the complaint was lodged by his uncle's faction over the use of the same name for their X handle.
The tension between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions has been constant after the latter's dramatic exit from his uncle's party in June this year. On July 2, Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and joined hands with the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction).
The development comes as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held an all-party meeting on the Maratha reservation on Monday and decided to give reservations to Marathas and accept other demands of the protestors.
"In the meeting, we have decided to give reservations to Marathas. The government is of the view to give reservations to the Marathas without touching the other (caste) reservations," Eknath Shinde said.
"The decision to give reservations to Marathas must be valid legally, and must stand in law, so we are working on it... The government has accepted many of the protesters' demands too," he further said.
The meeting was called to address the protests and hunger strikes by the Maratha community. Manoj Jarange Patil, a coordinator for the Maratha Morcha, went on a hunger strike seeking reservations. He is likely to break his strike as the Maharashtra Chief Minister has agreed to grant their demands.
The state government reached an agreement after extensive talks with the leaders of the Martha community. Manoj Jarange Patil demanded a change in the ordinance issued by the state on Maratha reservations.