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This is an archive article published on July 16, 2024

Big blow to Ajit Pawar’s NCP as its Pimpri unit chief Ajit Gavahane, three other leaders quit party, set to join Sharad Pawar’s NCP

Along with Gavahane, NCP Pimpri-Chinchwad Students’ Wing chief Yash Sane, former corporators Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar have also resigned from the party.

Ajit Gavhane NCP Ajit Pawar Pimpri Chinchwad“I have quit the NCP... I have submitted my resignation to my party president,” Ajit Gavahane, NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief, told The Indian Express. (Facebook/ Ajit Damodar Gavhane)

THE Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday suffered a big blow as four of its top leaders from Pimpri-Chinchwad quit the party. They are set to join the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar on July 20, sources said.

“I have quit the NCP… I have submitted my resignation to my party president,” Ajit Gavahane, NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief, told The Indian Express.

Along with Gavahane, NCP Pimpri-Chinchwad Students’ Wing chief Yash Sane, former corporators Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar have also resigned from the party.

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Gavahane said besides them, there are several NCP office-bearers, former corporators and leaders who are planning to quit the NCP. “They are all supporting me,” he said.

Asked about the reason for his resignation from the NCP, Gavahane said he would hold a press conference on Wednesday and announce the reason behind it.

Asked whether he was heading to the NCP led by Sharad Pawar, Gavahane refused to comment. “You will know which party I am joining… I won’t reveal anything today,” he said.

Leaders close to Gavahane said other leaders too would be joining the NCP led by Sharad Pawar.

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Gavahane resigned after all his efforts to get the Bhosari Assembly seat for the NCP failed. He had also met Ajit Pawar a few days back and told him as to why the party should contest the Bhosari Assembly seat, which has been won by BJP’s Mahesh Landge twice.

Gavahane himself wants to contest the Bhosari Assembly seat. Though the Gavanahes and Landges are relatives and are popular “gaonwala” (sons of soil), the two families are political rivals. In the 2017 civic elections, Gavahanes and Landges fought hard against each other. But the Gavhanes prevailed in the Gavhanevasti civic ward.

Gavahane and other leaders are slated to join the NCP (SP) on July 20 in Pimpri-Chinchwad where the party’s national chief Sharad Pawar will be present.

NCP spokesperson Umesh Patil said, “Any leader or leaders quitting the party is a setback. But we are confident that Ajit Gavahane will stay with us. Ajit Gavahane is known for his proximity to our leader Ajit Pawar. And therefore we are sure he won’t take any decision in a haste.”

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More


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