On May 5, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) passed a unanimous resolution rejecting NCP’s founder President Sharad Pawar’s resignation from his post and requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded.
NCP’s core committee took the decision to reject Sharad Pawar’s resignation when it met this morning to decide the party’s new national president. The 18-member core committee, tasked to decide the NCP’s future, included Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, KK Sharma, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Supriya Sule, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaidev Gaikwad, Narhari Jhirwal, Fauzia Khan and Dheeraj Sharma.
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule were seen arriving at the party office in Mumbai to attend the meeting. NCP workers were seen raising slogans urging Sharad Pawar to reconsider his decision.
Furthermore, after taking this decision, NCP’s top leaders, including Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare, Jitendra Awhad and Praful Patel, arrived at Sharad Pawar’s Silver Oak residence to convince him to continue as party’s President.
Senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, “We have conveyed the committee’s decision to Sharad Pawar. He said he needs two-three days to rethink his decision.”
NCP Vice President Praful Patel told the media that, “The committee in today’s meeting has passed a resolution unanimously. The resolution says that Sharad Pawar should continue as the national president. His decision to step down from the president’s post has been opposed by everyone unanimously.”
“All of us want Sharad Pawar to continue as the party president. He should respect the feelings of lakhs of us, and he should continue as the president,” he added. While speaking about the popularity of Sharad Pawar across India, Praful Patel said, “When we had gone to Punjab, even the farmers in the northern state had expressed their gratitude towards Pawar for his contributions.”
Sharad Pawar’s Resignation
On May 2, Sharad Pawar announced his resignation and retirement from electoral politics at the launch of the second part of his autobiography ‘Lok Maze Sangati.’ Sharad Pawar said, “I have decided to step down as the president of the NCP.”
Sharad Pawar founded NCP in 1999 and has helmed it for the past 24 years. His resignation affirms Ajit Pawar’s statement, who earlier said, “Pawar Saheb himself had said about the necessity of change in guard a few days back.”
Sharad Pawar announced that he would no longer contest elections after completing his Rajya Sabha tenure. He claimed that he would concentrate more on issues concerning the state and India. He said, “I have three-year tenure remaining in Rajya Sabha. I will not contest elections henceforth. In these three years, I will concentrate more on issues concerning to state and the country. I will not take any additional responsibilities. I started my political career on May 1, 1960. Yesterday we celebrated May Day. After this prolonged political career, one must think about stopping somewhere. One must not be greedy. I will never take the position of sticking to a post after so many years. Therefore, you might feel uneasy. But I have decided to retire from the post of the NCP chief.”
