Over 22 MLAs of the breakaway Nationalist Congress Party, led by Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel, reached YB Chavan Centre, Sharad Pawar’s office, unannounced, on Monday afternoon. (File Images: PTI)
Inside details of why the same script played out for the second day in Maharashtra, this time with a larger cast
There was a rerun of Sunday’s drama in Maharashtra on Monday. Over 22 MLAs of the breakaway Nationalist Congress Party, led by Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel, reached YB Chavan Centre, Sharad Pawar’s office, unannounced, on Monday afternoon. They had suddenly left from the Vidhan Bhavan, where the first day of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly was underway. They waited patiently for Sharad Pawar to reach his office, then waited for Maharashtra NCP president Jayant Patil to arrive at YB Chavan Centre.
As they met their supreme leader, they touched his feet and then fell at his feet. “Almost all of those MLAs fell at his feet, and asked him for a solution,” an NCP leader present at the meeting told CNN-News18 on the condition of anonymity. “Saaheb said there was no going back on the ideological position he had taken.”
What prompted these MLAs to meet Sharad Pawar?
It was just on Sunday that nine NCP breakaway MLAs, accompanied by MP Praful Patel, had met Sharad Pawar at his office, unannounced, seeking his blessings. Soon after the short meeting, Patel had told reporters that they had all come to seek his blessings and his guidance to keep the party together. “He didn’t say anything,” Patel had said. But as these 10 leaders went back, they faced the ire of the other MLAs, sources in NCP told CNN-News18.
“There was almost a tiff over the issue. The MLAs told Ajit Pawar that while the 10 of them had taken the decision and had even been sworn in as cabinet ministers, the other MLAs were having to bear the ire of the people. These legislators said, “You went and sought his blessings. But what about us? We are not ministers. We have come with you. And we are facing our people back home. How could you go alone to meet Saheb? We want to go too.” It was due to this insistence that Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel decided to bring them all to meet Sharad Pawar, a leader present at the meeting said.
“Yet another failed attempt by the breakaway NCP group to show the people of Maharashtra that they can pacify Sharad Pawar Saheb. It will not make any difference because a lot of water has flown under the bridge of trust. What this group has done cannot be rectified now,” tweeted Clyde Crasto, national spokesperson of NCP, after the meeting.
It is notable that Sharad Pawar has not yet uttered a single word about the two meetings.
What is also interesting is the fact that 25 plus NCP MLAs were absent from the Maharashtra assembly on the first day of the monsoon session, even as both sides had issued whips.
The chief whip of the Sharad Pawar group, Jitendra Awhad, was himself absent from the House on Monday.
