NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction MP Sanjay Raut. File
Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction MP Sanjay Raut on August 26 said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar was fighting defectors with “guerrilla warfare tactics”.
“Sharad Pawar and his associates have chosen guerrilla warfare tactics to fight those who have left the party,” Mr. Raut said.
Speaking to media persons here, Mr. Raut also said the NCP chief was “fighting a war on the battlefield with the BJP”.
“Sharad Pawar will never align with the BJP; he is an important leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi [MVA] and INDIA [‘Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance’ Opposition bloc]. This does not mean he is standing on two stones. No one has any confusion about Sharad Pawar,” Mr. Raut said.
On July 2, former NCP leader and now Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, along with eight other NCP MLAs, joined the ruling Eknath Shinde–led Maharashtra Government, leading to a vertical split in the NCP.
On July 3, Sharad Pawar–loyalist Jayant Patil, State president of the NCP and MLA from Islampur in Sangli district, who has remained with the Sharad Pawar faction of the party; and rebel leader in the NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction Anil Patil, who is the chief whip of the NCP in the Maharashtra Assembly and an MLA from Amalner in Jalgaon district, both sought each other’sdisqualification from the party before the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Rahul Narwekar.
Both Mr. Jayant Patil and Mr. Anil Patil are claiming to be with the “real NCP”.
They have both sought each other’s disqualification on the grounds of defection under Section (1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India. This provision provides for disqualification of a member if he or she “voluntarily gives up the membership of such a political party”.