Ajit Pawar’s NCP targets CM Shinde over Sawant’s remark, cites ‘pressure’ from rank and file to quit Mahayuti
NCP says CM Eknath Shinde’s refusal to take action against Tanaji Sawant has raised doubts as to whether the minister has the full support of his party chief.
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP is part of the ruling alliance along with the BJP and Shinde’s Shiv Sena. (Express Photo/File)
Three days after Maharashtra Health Minister Tanaji Sawant made a disparaging remark about his cabinet colleagues from the NCP, the party headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has questioned Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the remark made by the minister belonging to his Shiv Sena.
“Why has the chief minister kept silent despite the fact that his minister made an outrageous and humiliating comment against our ministers? There has not been a single word from him. All this has raised doubts in the minds of our leaders and workers as to whether the minister made the statement after getting full support from the chief minister,” NCP spokesperson Umesh Patil told The Indian Express on Sunday.
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Speaking at a public event on Thursday, Sawant said, “I have never got along with the Congress and NCP all my life. In cabinet meetings, when I sit next to them, I come out and vomit.”
Patil said that NCP leaders and ministers were grievously hurt by the remark. “After making his statement, he seems to be brazening it out. He has not even expressed regret. He seems to be firm on what he said. If this is his stand, the NCP as a party will refuse to attend any cabinet meetings if he is present there. I am sure our ministers and our leader Ajit Pawar will boycott cabinet meetings till Sawant is ousted,” the NCP spokesperson said.
Patil said there was growing pressure on Ajit Pawar to exit the Mahayuti government. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP is part of the ruling alliance along with the BJP and Shinde’s Shiv Sena. “NCP leaders and workers are extremely hurt by the constant attacks on our party by leaders of our own alliance. Many of them are veering around to the thought that the party should exit the alliance,” he said.
When contacted, a Shiv Sena spokesperson refused to comment.
On Saturday, BJP spokesperson Ganesh Hake described the alliance between the NCP and his party as unholy. And the BJP’s Latur district president, Dilip Deshmukh, said the Shiv Sena and the BJP were real brothers while the NCP was the step-brother in the alliance.
Reacting to the BJP leaders’ comments, the NCP spokesperson said his party expected Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to act on the matter.
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For his part, Ajit Pawar said on Saturday that if the NCP was attacked in this manner, its leaders and workers were capable of giving a befitting reply. “Our alliance was formed because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis,” Pawar added.
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