NCP Leaders Return to Sharad Pawar’s Camp in Pune

On July 17, several leaders and corporators from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) returned to the camp of the party’s founder, Sharad Pawar, in Pune, Maharashtra. This move came just a day after they had resigned from the faction led by Ajit Pawar.

Key Leaders Rejoining

Among those who rejoined Sharad Pawar’s camp were Ajit Gavhane, the former chief of NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, and senior leaders Rahul Bhosale, Pankaj Bhalekar, and Yash Sane. They had all quit the party on Tuesday.

Supriya Sule’s Statement

Supriya Sule, the working president of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), praised Sharad Pawar’s long-standing commitment to development in Maharashtra and at the national level. She emphasized that even opposition members hold him in high regard.

“Pawar sahab has been continuously working for development in Maharashtra and at the Centre for the last 60 years. We have faith in Pawar sahab’s ideology, and at the same time, many people in the opposition also look towards him with great hopes, which is why people are joining him,” Sule said.

Ajit Gavhane’s Remarks

Ajit Gavhane mentioned that he and other party workers who resigned would seek Sharad Pawar’s blessings. He criticized the development work done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, citing corruption and mismanagement.

“If you look at Pimpri-Chinchwad, both Ajit dada and Pawar sahab had contributed to its development. But since 2017, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been ruling PPMC. The development work here was done in the wrong way, especially if you look at other constituencies. There was rampant corruption here, and the sitting MLA is responsible for it,” Gavhane said.

Future Plans

Gavhane also expressed his interest in contesting the upcoming state assembly elections.