NCP-SCP's Rohit Pawar makes big claim: '18-19 NCP MLAs are in touch with us, will decide after...'

NCP-SCP's Rohit Pawar makes big claim: '18-19 NCP MLAs are in touch with us, will decide after...'

Ajit Pawar-led NCP currently has 40 MLAs, while Sharad Pawar's party has 12. Ajit Pawar carried out a vertical split in the party in July 2023, when he walked away with 40 MLAs and joined the NDA.

NCP was split in July 2023
Business Today Desk
  • Jun 17, 2024,
  • Updated Jun 17, 2024, 4:16 PM IST

NCP-SCP leader Rohit Pawar on Monday claimed that 18-19 MLAs from Ajit Pawar's party were in touch and that they would take the final decision after the Monsoon Session. "We have been saying this since the start, that 18-19 (NCP MLAs) are in touch with us...We will decide once the monsoon session concludes," he said while speaking to news agency ANI. Rohit Pawar suggested that if those MLAs leave now, they won't get funds. He said they would take a call once the session was over. 

Ajit Pawar-led NCP currently has 40 MLAs, while Sharad Pawar's party has 12. Ajit Pawar carried out a vertical split in the party in July 2023, when he walked away with 40 MLAs and joined the NDA. However, in the Lok Sabha elections, the Ajit Pawar faction could not get the expected results and won only 1 of 4 seats it contested. Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar lost the elections from Baramati, a party bastion. 

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, of which Sharad Pawar is part, bagged 30 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. The Lok Sabha election results have created fear among some of the ruling MLAs that they might lose assembly polls later this year. 

Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have made it clear that they won't take rebel MLAs back in the party. 

On Saturday, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar said there was no question of taking back those who sided with the rebel factions. "There is no question of taking rebel leaders back," they said while speaking at a joint press conference of the MVA of the Sena (UBT), NCP(SP), and Congress. 

Reacting to the statement, Sanjay Shirsat, an MLA of the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, said Thackeray should first take care of his own flock. "Who is going, in the first place? It is not that anybody from our side went to 'Matoshree' (Thackeray’s residence) and was thrown out. We have no interest in going back there. They should take care of their people," he said.

The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde rebelled along with 39 MLAs and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. Shinde then became chief minister by joining hands with the BJP.

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