Amid Power Tussle With Nephew, Sharad Pawar Launches Statewide Tour

Amid a power tussle with his nephew Ajit Pawar who has revolted against his leadership and made a bid to take over the party, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar launched statewide tour from Nashik on Saturday.

The NCP chief will be holding his first rally in Yeola in Nashik district which is the assembly constituency of NCP heavyweight Chhagan Bhujbal, who ditched him for Ajit.

Pawar will visit Nashik, Pune, Solapur and some parts of the Vidarbha region constituencies of Chagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Mundem and other rebel MLAs.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday led a vertical split in the party to become the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, shocking his uncle Sharad Pawar, who founded the party 24 years ago.

Eight NCP leaders were also sworn in as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Undeterred by his nephew Ajit Pawar's rebellion, the octogenarian NCP chief, a past master in tiding political crises has vowed to rebuild the party.

The 82-year-old leader said Ajit Pawar's exit 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.