NCP leaders accuse BJP of trying to ‘break’ party to come to power

Anil Deshmukh, senior leader of the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former Maharashtra Home Minister on Monday made a statement about the recent political upheaval in Maharashtra. The former Minister said that the “politics of vandalism” has run rampant in Maharashtra over the past year-and-a-half, which is “frustrating.” “This is what is happening in Maharashtra. First, the Shiv Sena was broken, then Uddhav Thackeray’s MLAs rebelled.” The former Home Minister also hit out at the BJP, saying that the party “bought” the NCP’s party symbol for Rs 50 crore. “Now, our senior leaders in the NCP [Ajit Pawar] have separated from us.”
Deshmukh also said that leaders like Pawar and Praful Patel would be welcomed back into the NCP fold if they so wished.
Leaders of the Sharad Pawar faction continue to attack the BJP. Sharad’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar, who is an NCP MLA has accused the BJP of trying to break the NCP and the Shiv Sena to come to power in Maharashtra. Following Ajit’s rebellion, the legal claim staked on the party’s name and symbol by the rebel faction poses yet another challenge for NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Ajit’s faction has elected him as the national president of the party and is making changes in the Maharashtra organisation. A total of nine NCP legislators defected and joined the Eknath Shinde.
On Monday, NCP MLA Makarand Patil from the Wai constituency in Maharashtra’s Satara district announced that he had joined the Ajit camp to “save” two sugar factories which are facing financial crises in his constituency.