"Sharad Pawar Never Wanted To Resign," Says Supriya Sule

Responding to former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal's allegation that Sharad Pawar's resignation as NCP president was "decided" in a party meeting, NCP working president Supriya Sule said that Sharad Pawar never wanted to tender his resignation.

Launching serious allegations against leaders of NCP, Supriya Sule claimed, "Pawar Saheb never wanted to tender his resignation. But he offered to resign after leaders from the party insisted on joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was hurt and he offered to resign", Ms Sule told reporters in Maharashtra's Pune.

"Everyone thought it was a drama, but for us, it was a reality. Later, party workers from the state urged Pawar Saheb to continue as the president, following which a committee was set up that was to decide who would become the next President but Bhujbal himself refused the idea of setting up the committee and urged Pawar Saheb to remain in the position", she added.

Supriya Sule further said that she chose to be on the path of "struggle".

"On one side, there was power (satta), on the other side, there was struggle. I chose to be on the path of struggle", she said.

Earlier this year, NCP's veteran leader Sharad Pawar announced his decision to step down as the president of the party after helming it for 24 years and stated that he will not contest any more elections.

Later, the party suffered a split as top leaders including Ajit Pawar along with eight other party leaders joined the ruling Eknath-Shinde-BJP alliance in the state.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister with eight other party legislators.

The move by Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, which also saw eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government, came amid efforts by opposition parties to forge unity to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls.