NCP supremo Sharad Pawar decides to step down as party president

Sharad Pawar, the NCP’s leader, announced his resignation as party leader on Tuesday. He will not, however, resign from active politics. According to Pawar, a committee would be constituted to decide who will be assigned the job of the party chief.

“I started my political career on 1 May, 1960. Yesterday we celebrated May Day. After this prolonged political career, one must think about stopping somewhere. One must not be greedy” Pawar said. Sharad Pawar stated on Tuesday that he will step down as president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and will not be contesting elections in the future.

“I have three years tenure remaining in Rajya Sabha. I will not contest elections henceforth,” the NCP chief said at the launch of the second edition of his autobiography, ‘Lok Maze Sangati’. Pawar recommended that a committee be formed, comprising senior NCP leaders, to decide the future course of action.

“Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, P C Chacko, Narhari Zirwal, Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujabl, Dilip walse-Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaydev Gaikwad and chiefs of party frontal cells will be in committee,” Pawar said.

Sharad Pawar has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four ministries. He has served in the Union Council Of Ministers as the Minister of Defence in the Cabinet of P.V Narsimha Rao and Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Manmahon Singh. He is first and former president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. He led the NCP delegation in the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Indian parliament. He is the chairperson of Maha Vikas Aghadi, a regional Maharashtra-based political alliance.