Ajit Pawar Jumping Ship Not A New Thing, Says Sharad Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar termed his nephew Ajit Pawar being sworn in as Maharashtra Deputy CM was "not a new thing."

Pawar said what happened today might be surprising for many, but not to him as he faced a similar situation in 1980 when all leaders of the party he was leading left and he resurrected the party.

"This is not a new thing. The party I was leading in 1980 had 58 MLAs, later all left and only 6 MLAs left, but I strengthened the numbers and those who left me lost in their constituencies," the NCP chief said.

"We will work to strengthen the party again. MLAs and all senior leaders will sit together to decide about any action against the rebel leaders. Being the president, I had appointed Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare but they did not follow their responsibilities. Therefore, I have to take some action against them," he said.

"I will never say that my home has split, this issue is not regarding my home, this is the issue of people. I am worried about the future of those who left. I want to give the credit for this to PM Modi. Two days ago, he had made statements and after that statement, some people started feeling uneasy, some of them were also facing ED actions," he added.

Mamata, Kharge called me: Pawar

"I am receiving several calls from a lot of people, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and others have called me. I am not worried about whatever happened today. Tomorrow, I will take the blessings of YB Chavan (former Maharashtra CM) and will hold a public meeting," Sharad Pawar told reportes.

"Some of my colleagues have taken a different stand. I had called a meeting of all the leaders on 6th July where some important issue was to be discussed and some changes were to be made within the party but before that meeting, some of the leaders have taken a different stand," he said.

"It is the right of the speaker to decide about of the leader of the Opposition. In the next two-three days, we will sit with Congress and Uddhav Thackeray to access the situation. Our main strength is the common people, they have elected us," he added.