Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is facing political challenges after its poor performance in the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections with four party leaders quitting the party. This comes after an article in the RSS-linked magazine Organiser attributed the BJP’s poor performance in Maharashtra to its alliance with Ajit Pawar’s NCP and lack of communication between the party, its workers and the NDA government in the state. Ajit Pawar’s party suffered a major setback on Tuesday when four of its leaders from Pimpri-Chinchwad are expected to resign and join veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.
The parting of the leaders includes Pimpri Chinchwad unit president Ajit Gavahane, student leader Yash Sane and two former councillors Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Barekar. “I resigned yesterday and today I will hold a meeting with all the former councillors from different Vidhan Sabha constituencies. We will decide the future strategy accordingly. I will take Pawar Sahab’s (Sharad Pawar) blessings. We will decide together,” Ajit Gavahane told news agency ANI. He alleged that the BJP started blocking the development of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) after 2017. His resignation comes amid growing speculation that some leaders from Ajit Pawar’s camp are planning to return to Sharad Pawar’s faction ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Earlier in June, Sharad Pawar said he would close the door on those who sought to weaken the party, but welcome leaders who could strengthen it without tarnishing its image. Ajit Pawar’s party contested four Lok Sabha seats in the state and won just one, Raigad, but his uncle’s faction won eight seats in Maharashtra, where assembly elections are due later this year.
Following Ajit Pawar’s rebellion against NCP founder Sharad Pawar in 2023, the Pawar family split into two political factions. While Sharad Pawar chose to remain in the opposition, Ajit Pawar joined the National Democratic Alliance under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who was appointed Deputy Chief Minister.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the ruling Mahayuti alliance consisting of Eknath Shinde’s BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP won 17 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats.
Meanwhile, the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Indian National Congress, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and a faction of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, won 30 seats.
