Ajit Pawar, 8 Rebel NCP MLAs Disqualified For "Anti-Party Activities"

In a new development in Maharashtra politics on Monday, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) disqualified nine rebel MLAs including Ajit Pawar who were sworn in as ministers in the Shinde-Fadnavis government 'for indulging in anti-party activities'.

While the NCP moved a disqualification petition against the nine MLAs to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, NCP leader Praful Patel in a joint conference announced that Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare has been appointed as the new State President of the party in Maharashtra, adding that Ajit Pawar has been unanimously elected as the leader of the legislature party.

"The State Discipline Committee passed a resolution dated 2 July 2023 recorded the factum of disqualification of the said 9 (nine) MLAs from the party due to their indulgence in anti-party activities," the letter served to the nine disqualified MLAs said.

"It is recorded that the fact these defections were done in such a secretive manner, without the knowledge or consent of the Party President, amounts to desertion of the party which in turn invites disqualification," the letter said.

The dramatic turn of events continued further as Sharad Pawar removed party vice president Praful Patel and MP Sunil Tatkare from the party "for indulging in anti-party activities".

"Your actions of supporting Ajit Pawar and the eight other MLAs, who have sworn oath as Ministers in violation of the party's direction and mandate, ex-facie amount to anti-party activities and that you deemed to have voluntarily left the membership of Nationalist Congress Party," Mr Pawar said in a communication which was also sent to the two party MPs.

"I formally remove your names from the Membership Register of the Party in view of your actions of voluntarily giving up membership of the Nationalist Congress Party," it said.

The communication said the action of MPs, "in a surreptitious manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amounts to the desertion of the party, which in turn invites disqualification from primary membership".

Praful Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP, has been a close associate of Mr Pawar and was working president of NCP last month. He was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government along with Sharad Pawar.

Meanwhile, on being asked who will be the Nationalist Congress Party national president now, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during the joint press conference asked whether they have forgotten that Sharad Pawar is the party's national president.

He was asked the question after NCP leader Ajit Pawar and eight other party leaders joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra in a surprise and dramatic political move.

Ajit Pawar said the party will function very well.

"I have come to know from media reports that action is being taken against nine MLAs. In this context, we have sent an application to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to disqualify Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad," Ajit Pawar said.

During the joint conference, the NCP leader Mr Patel announced, "We are relieving Jayant Patil of his responsibilities and in his place, I am appointing Sunil Tatkare as Maharashtra President of Nationalist Congress Party. Sunil Tatkare will have the authority to make organizational changes in the party."

Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal along with Dilip Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Mundo, Dharmaraobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, and Anil Patil joined Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government on Sunday

The letter also ordered the disqualified MLAs to refrain from misrepresenting before any forum that they have any association with the NCP. Any such act of misrepresentation would be absolutely unlawful and illegal.

Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday, July 2. Eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers.

Hours after Ajit Pawar and some other Nationalist Congress Party leaders joined the Maharashtra government, party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said, "This is not 'googly', it is a robbery" and that he was worried about the future of those who left the party.

Talking to reporters after his nephew and eight other party leaders rebelled and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar said he was not worried about what happened and will work to strengthen the party again. "This is not 'googly', it is a robbery. It is not a small thing," Sharad Pawar said.

Ajit Pawar, who was the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on Sunday. Eight other MLAs joined the government.

A day after NCP leader Ajit Pawar and eight other party leaders joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra in a dramatic turn of events in Maharashtra politics, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) veteran leader Lalu Yadav said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is dismantling the democratic character of the country.

"Democracy is being attacked. Prime Minister Modi is breaking and robbing everything. Recently you saw, a prominent leader from Maharashtra had come to Bihar. We had called them to gather support to defeat PM Modi," Lalu Yadav at the launch of the book on Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Patna.

Earlier today, the RJD leader asserted that Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar is a stalwart and has inordinate power.

"Sharad Pawar 'ek haisiyat hein aur takat hein' (is a stalwart and has inordinate power) and PM Modi tried to shake him, but nothing will happen, everything will fail," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)