Unease in MVA after Sharad Pawar's mixed signals, u-turn on Ajit
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) following some contradictory comments made by NCP president Sharad Pawar. While Pawar Sr had claimed that Ajit Pawar was still with the NCP and that the party had not split, he did a volte face by Friday evening saying that the statements were made by his daughter Surpriya Sule and not him.
Sharad Pawar, when asked by journalists on Friday morning to comment about Supriya Sule's claims that the party had not split and that Ajit was still with the NCP, said he seconded Supriya's statement.
«There is no doubt that he (Ajit) is an NCP leader. We can call a split in the party only when a major faction splits at the national level which is not the case here.
If some people have taken a different stand… then, it is their right in a democracy but it cannot be called a split,» Pawar said.
Pawar's comments have angered the Congress and the Sena (Uddhav), which have stated that in politics one should not sail in two boats, in an apparent reference to Pawar's position.
«There are two NCP state presidents. If this is not a split, then what is? According to me, this is a split,» said Sena (Uddhav) MP Sanjay Raut.
He was referring to the two NCP state presidents — Jayant Patil who was appointed by Sharad Pawar, and Sunil Tatkare who was appointed to the same post by Ajit Pawar faction.
Raut has had excellent equations with the Sharad Pawar family. However, the mixed signals given by the Sharad Pawar family has now led to some frustration building up with Raut too.
