Ajit Pawar is NOT our leader: NCP chief Sharad Pawar after previous party unity comments

Update (August 25; 5:24 PM): NCP chief Sharad Pawar seemingly walked back from his previous statements and said that Ajit Pawar is not a leader of the party because of his alleged anti-party stance.

Speaking at an event in Maharashtra’s Satara, Sharad Pawar said, “I am not saying that Ajit Pawar is our leader. Supriya Sule had said that. They are like siblings and there is no need to look for a political meaning behind this. I did not say that Ajit Pawar is our leader. This is your [media’s] fault. That was said by Supriya and it also appeared in newspapers. Given the kind of stand he has taken, he is not our leader.”

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar said that there exists no schism within the party and reaffirmed that Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar, remains an integral leader of the NCP.

Sharad Pawar’s remarks came while addressing the media in his hometown of Baramati in Pune district on Friday, one day after his daughter Supriya Sule asserted that Ajit Pawar remains a senior NCP leader and a MLA for the party.

“Now, he [Ajit Pawar] has taken a stand that is against the party, and we have given a complaint to the assembly speaker and are awaiting his response,” NCP’s working president and Baramati MP Sule told media personnel on Thursday.

How can you say split in NCP? Sharad Pawar questions doubts about Ajit Pawar

Sharad Pawar’s stance remains aligned with his daughter’s perspective as he confirmed, “Yes, there is no question about it,” in reference to Ajit Pawar’s continued association with the NCP.

Dismissive of any notion of a division within the NCP, Sharad Pawar said, “There is no conflict that he [Ajit Pawar] is our leader, there is no split in NCP. How does a split happen in a party? It happens when a big group separates from the party at the national level. But there is no such situation in NCP today. Yes, some leaders took a different stance but this can’t be called a split. They can do so in a democracy.”

Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs had previously aligned with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government led by Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra on July 2. This move had prompted questions about the NCP’s internal unity.

The members who had switched sides were being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Sharad Pawar had told reporters during an event in Pune on Sunday. “Recently some of our people joined the government saying that they joined hands with the BJP on the issue of development… some of them were under ED investigation… some of them did not want to face investigation,” he said.