Sharad Pawar said a decision is yet to be made about rebel leaders if they want to return to party (File)
Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar on Sunday hinted that he might not be keen to take back the rebel NCP leaders, asserting that new faces should be backed in the party. He was addressing a gathering at Mumbai's YB Chavan Centre.
The NCP suffered a huge jolt in July after its key figure and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar joined the ruling dispensation of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP with eight senior leaders and took oath as ministers.
"Some people ask me what is to be done if those who have joined the government try to come back. We are not going to take any decision about it. There is a view within the party that those who are new should be supported ahead of elections," Sharad Pawar said.
The Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP on Saturday said it has told the Election Commission that there is no dispute in the party, except that a few "mischievous" individuals defected for their personal ambitions, a reference to the rebel group.
Mr Pawar also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to the latter's allegations against his party.
"PM Modi called the NCP a corrupt party. But after those comments, he inducted some (NCP) people at whom he had pointed fingers. It shows how principled Narendra Modi is," he said.
At a BJP programme in Bhopal a few weeks before Ajit Pawar's rebellion, PM Modi had accused the NCP of being involved in corruption of Rs 70,000 crore, listing out the alleged scams in the Maharashtra Cooperative Bank as well as in the state's irrigation and mining sectors.
"There is unrest among the people about what has happened in the state. People do not approve of forming such governments by breaking other parties," he said.
A little over a year before the division in the NCP, the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena split after Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs broke away from the party. The revolt led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and Mr Shinde tied up with the BJP to become the Chief Minister.