New Delhi: While the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chaos over control of party plays out in the open, Ajit Pawar spoke at length while addressing the gathering of party MLAs, MLCs and member of Parliamentarians today, who sided with him at the MET Bhujbal Knowledge city, Bandra. Ajit Pawar started his speech by acknowledging the contributions of his ‘revered’ uncle Sharad Pawar in his political life and said that ‘whatever he was today was because of him.’ However, moments later, the Pawar junior shifted gear and called out uncle over latter’s ‘stubbornness & resistance in taking retirement from politics and not allowing new leadership in taking party forward.’ Ajit Pawar said that all parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have certain retirement age but why NCP was not ready for ‘change of guard’. Lashing out at Pawar senior, he said that it was time for Sharad Sahab to step down as party chief and let the young blood take lead in taking his legacy forward. He also questioned Sharad Pawar’s decision to first resign from the position of NCP chairman and then days later getting back at the helm. He called it an ‘orchestrated drama’ and also said that it was done to keep the rein of party under his command. #WATCH | Maharashtra's Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and leaders of his faction display a show of strength as they gather at MET Bandra in Mumbai for a meeting of NCP. pic.twitter.com/AXwBouBqFv — ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2023 Speaking on the numbers game, Ajit Pawar, though admitted that the number of MLAs on his side was not the same as they projected. Notably, his camp had declared support of 40 MLAs but only 28 legislators shared stage with him today. Ajit Pawar said that he along with defected NCP MLAs didn’t want to break ranks with NCP but the resistance & stubbornness of seniors was harming the party. He said that it was time for him to speak up & present his side, otherwise he would be branded ‘evil character’. Showering praise on Prime Minister, he said that Narendra Modi was the most popular & loved leader of the country and despite all opposition parties ganging up, he is bound to return to power in 2024 elections.
