Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar left the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) 8th national convention just before his speech in New Delhi on Sunday. From NCP, Ajit Pawar is the present opposition leader in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly.
NCP’s national convention was held at the Talkatora Stadium situated in the national capital. Party president Sharad Pawar along with politician Jayant Patil was in attendance. Opposition leader Ajit Pawar left the convention just before his turn to address the gathering that sparked rumors of a rift in the party.
NCP MP Supriya Sule tried to convince Pawar to return for his scheduled speech. Ajit Pawar’s speech was scheduled before the party president’s concluding speech. When asked by the reporters, Pawar said “Everyone was curious (to address the crowd at the convention). I will speak in Maharashtra.”
When Ajit Pawar entered the convention venue, party president Sharad Pawar had already started his concluding speech, which didn’t give the former a chance to speak. The gathered party workers were demanding Ajit Pawar address the crowd. While Pawar had left the venue, Jayant Patil told the gathering that Ajit had gone to the washroom.
Later during the event, NCP president Sharad Pawar said, “We have to democratically challenge the present government, which is misusing central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and their money power. We have to be prepared for a fight” during his speech.
NCP’s Sharad Pawar was re-elected as the party president for the next four years on Saturday. Pawar has encouraged the unity of opposition parties. In his speech, Pawar alleged that the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) was trying to distract the youth from important topics such as ‘unemployment’ overshadowing it with religious matters.
Pawar said, “We will have to be alert and careful about the Union government’s divisive policies on the basis the basis of religion, caste.” He added that there was a need to bring like-minded political parties in accord against the communal politics of the BJP.
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