NCP supremo Sharad Pawar steps down as party chief

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced that he was stepping down as the party chief.

"I am resigning from the post of the national president of NCP," ANI quoted Pawar as stating at an event. However, he is yet to name his successor and will form a committee to pick the next chief.

"I have three years left of Rajya Sabha membership in Parliament, during which I will focus on issues related to Maharashtra and India, with a caveat of not taking any responsibility. After a long period of public life from May 1, 1960, to May 1, 2023, it is necessary to take a step back. Hence, I have decided to step down as President of the Nationalist Congress Party," Hindustan Times quoted him as saying in his address to the party workers.

After he made the announcement, the party workers urged him to withdraw his decision to step down as the party chief.

According to the HT report, the committee will have Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, Jayant Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Chhagan Bhujbal and others.

Sharad Pawar has also said that he was not retiring from active politics though he was stepping down as the NCP chief.

The visuals shared ANI show that NCP leader Jayant Patil broke down after Pawar announced that he will step down as party president.

This development comes at a time when there have been frequent speculations around his nephew Ajit Pawar joining hands with the BJP.

Also, Sharad Pawar's revised version Marathi autobiography 'Lok Majhe Saangaati' is hitting the stores today.

His daughter and party MP Supriya Sule had recently said a programme on the book relaunch will be held at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai. The revised book includes details about Pawar's life post-2015.

A four-time Maharashtra chief minister, who served as Union Defence and Agriculture minister, Pawar was instrumental in stitching together an unlikely coalition of the NCP, Congress and then ideologically opposite Shiv Sena to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Earlier, Pawar also published his autobiography 'On My Terms' in English.