Sharad Pawar dissolves all NCP cells, departments after collapse of Thackeray-led MVA govt

Mumbai, July 21: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has dissolved all the National level departments and cells of his political party with immediate effect, General Secretary Praful Patel said on Thursday.

He took to a micro-blogging site and said that the development comes with the NCP chief's nod. "With the approval of our National President Hon'ble Shri Sharad Pawar Saheb, all the National level Departments and Cells of @NCPspeaks excluding Nationalist Women's Congress, Nationalist Youth Congress and Nationalist Students Congress stand dissolved with immediate effect."

However, the exceptions included Nationalist Women's Congress, Nationalist Youth Congress and Nationalist Students Congress. "This decision does not apply to Maharashtra or any other state unit," Patel added.

The decision is taken in a bid to reorganise the structure of NCP following the recent collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, sources informed ANI.

The NCP was one of the partners in the Shiv Sena-led coalition government which fell apart in late June following a rebellion against Thackeray by a section of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.
The new government in the state came to power after Shinde's 10-day rebellion brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, which is hearing pleas related to Shiv Sena rebellion, on Wednesday said that the issues involved in the Maharashtra petitions need to be referred to a larger bench for consideration.

However, the court will decide on the matter during the next hearing. The top court posted the matter to August 10 and granted time to Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde-led camp to file an affidavit on the pleas filed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray-led faction.