'No question about it, he is still a leader': Sharad Pawar says nephew Ajit Pawar still member of NCP

The chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar further expanded the scope of speculation over his nephew Ajit Pawar's allegiance, saying that the Deputy Chief Minister of the BJP-ruled state of Maharashtra is still a leader of NCP.

On Friday, Sharad Pawar said that while some leaders have left the party by taking a "different political stand", their exit cannot be termed a "split."

Pawar was talking to reporters at his hometown Baramati in the Pune district in the morning before leaving for Kolhapur, where he is scheduled to address a rally later in the day.

Pawar's comments come a day after his daughter and NCP's working president Supriya Sule called Ajit Pawar a senior leader and MLA of the party.

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She said, "Now, he (Ajit Pawar) has taken a stand that is against the party, and we have given a complaint to the assembly speaker and are awaiting his response."

When asked if there is no split within the party and if Ajit Pawar still holds a status in NCP, Pawar senior said, " Yes, there is no question about it. How can anybody say that there is a split in NCP? There's no question that Ajit Pawar is our party leader."

"What does a split in a political party mean? Split occurs when a large group in a party is separated at the national level. But no such thing has happened here. Some people left the party, some took a different stand...In democracy it is their right to take a decision," he added.

Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state on July 2.

Talking about the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Pawar expressed confidence that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the NCP, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, will perform better than the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

With inputs from PTI