New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar, who resigned as the party chief two days ago, will continue to lead the party. The NCP supremo on Friday withdrew his resignation amid loud & widespread calls for his stay at the helm and also informed about his decision to the party workers.
The return of Sharad Pawar as NCP President, after two days of emotional & poignant protests by party workers, brought smile on faces of thousands of his supporters & well-wishers. The annoncement was greeted with joy & jubilation as workers & supporters at many local offices broke into quick dance & jig.
Sharad Pawar had announced his decision to step down as the party chief during the launch of his autobiography. Surrounded by party tall leaders, Pawar declared that he was quitting as the NCP President and urged leaders to elect new party chief.
Pawar’s decision came as a surprise annoucemment for everyone, including the top brass of NCP as they didn’t anticipate such a closure of the autobiography event.
A couple of leaders incuding NCP’s Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil got teary-eyed over Pawar’s exit while other top leaders like Prafful Patel & Chhagan Bhujbal urged the Maratha strongman to continue as party chief and lead the party into 2024 Parliamentary polls.
According to reports, Pawar’s exit as party chief was the result of internal squabbling & rumblings over its alliance in the state. Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar was said to be warming up to the BJP & also had support of some party MLAs but the former, being the pivot around MahaVikasAghadi allliance, was never convinced with the idea of aligning with right-wing forces. Reports suggest that this family friction over coalition was taking a toll on morale of party leaders & workers and Pawar’s decision was a likely outcome of this.
Earlier in the day, the NCP core committee met and passed a proposal to reinstate Sharad Pawar as the party chief as this was the demand of all, from cadres to leaders. The core panel appraoched Pawar & requested him to take back his resignation and continue as party chief. A day ago, hundreds of party workers demonstrated outside the party office and entreated the NCP supremo to rethink & reconsider his decision.
