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This is an archive article published on July 5, 2023

Crucial NCP meetings today, both Pawar camps claim majority

The NCP faction under Sharad Pawar said it is expecting the participation of at least 44 MLAs at Wednesday’s meeting to be held in Mumbai; faction under Deputy CM Ajit Pawar claimed that over 40 MLAs would be attending their meeting at Bandra.

This combination photo shows NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar. (Photos via their Facebook pages)This combination photo shows NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar. (Photos via their Facebook pages)
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Crucial NCP meetings today, both Pawar camps claim majority
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Even as NCP MP Amol Kolhe has decided to withdraw his resignation offer and “return” to the Sharad Pawar camp, and so have MLAs Kiran Lamhate and Ashok Pawar, the faction under the veteran leader said it was expecting at least 44 MLAs to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

The party meeting is scheduled to be held at Y B Centre at Mumbai’s Nariman Point.

On the other hand, the rival camp under newly sworn-in Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed that over 40 MLAs will attend its meeting in Bandra on Wednesday.

“After meeting with the NCP chief and seeking his guidance, I have decided to continue working for the people of Shirur Lok Sabha constituency,” Kolhe told The Indian Express.

The NCP led by Sharad Pawar has been claiming the support of six MPs, three from Lok Sabha and three from Rajya Sabha.

“Except for the nine MLAs who have joined the Shinde-Fadnavis government, we are expecting 45 MLAs to attend our meeting today,” NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase told The Indian Express.

Tapase said their leader Jitendra Awhad has already issued the whip.

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On his part, Umesh Patil, the spokesperson of the Ajit Pawar camp, told the Express, “Anil Patil has already issued the whip from our group… We will have the majority of our MLAs at the meeting. We are gearing up for our first grand meeting”.

MLAs Kiran Lamhate and Ashok Pawar, who returned to Sharad Pawar, claimed that they had attended the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, but had no clue what actually would unfold. “We were invited to the ceremony without being told what it was all about. Our signatures were also taken..,” said Ashok Pawar.

Meanwhile, Sunil Tatkare MP, of the Ajit Pawar camp, said everyone will come to know today “the kind of support we have”.

“Wait for some time and see for yourself the support Ajit Pawar enjoys. A majority of MLAs are supporting Ajit Pawar. The entire picture will become clear after today’s meeting.”

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Tatkare, however, added, “Sharad Pawar is our deity and will remain so.”

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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