Mumbai: Amid the brainstorming and posturing to unlock the leadership question within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Ajit Pawar camp was left red-faced this morning over a missing bunch of keys.
As he takes on his uncle Sharad Pawar in the fight for the party's control, Ajit Pawar, now Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, was to inaugurate a new party office near the state secretariat. But when leaders loyal to Ajit Pawar reached the new 'Rashtrawadi Bhavan' this morning, they found themselves locked out and the keys missing.
Party leaders were seen sitting on chairs outside the locked doors as calls were made to track down the keys at the earliest. Later, visuals showed youth leaders trying to break down a lock so that they can enter the bungalow and prep it for inauguration by Ajit Pawar later in the day. Once inside, they faced a new problem: the doors of rooms inside were locked too.
The bungalow chosen by Ajit Pawar for the party office earlier belonged to Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council and a loyalist of Uddhav Thackeray. Mr Danve has now been allotted another bungalow.
NCP leader Appa Sawant told NDTV that the personal assistant of Mr Danve slept at the bungalow. "We have made all arrangements inside, but the PA locked up and left. We have called him. He said he is on his way to Mantralaya and will hand over the keys to us," said Mr Sawant, the vice-president of NCP's Mumbai wing. The NCP leader also alleged a conspiracy behind this.
Ajit Pawar finally inaugurated the office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony after his supporters finally got their hands on the keys.
Ajit Pawar's key conundrum was playing out on a day when the factions led by him and his uncle Sharad Pawar are holding key meetings to plan their next moves. The NCP's allies, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), are also meeting today to discuss the shock developments over the past couple of days.
Both camps have claimed that they represent the real NCP, but they have not spelt out the number of MLAs backing them.
Sharad Pawar has cracked down on the rebels, sacking senior leaders such as Praful Patel for attending the ceremony on Sunday during which Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led government. The faction led by Pawar senior has submitted a petition to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and his eight loyalists.
The party has also written to the Election Commission, stressing that Sharad Pawar, NCP's founder, continues to head the party.