Maharashtra: NCP Chief Sharad Pawar names Praful Patel & Supriya Sule as new party working Presidents

On June 10, senior leader and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar declared and appointed Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as the party’s working presidents. The senior leader announced this decision during the 25th anniversary of the party. In 1999, Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma formed NCP.

Supriya Sule is a Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, Maharastra and is also the daughter of Sharad Pawar. While Praful Patel, NCP vice-president, a Rajya Sabha MP and the NCP supremo’s close aide. According to the reports, Sule would be in charge of the coordination of the Lok Sabha, Women, Youth, and the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, and Punjab. Patel, on the other hand, will be in charge of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Goa.

The leader of the opposition of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Ajit Pawar, a significant NCP figure, was there when the news was made; he is also an MLA from Baramati and the nephew of the party supremo. He had stated categorically that he did not wish to assume the position inside the party.

Recently on May 2, Sharad Pawar announced that he would step down as president of the NCP and he would not be contesting elections in the future. He started his political career on May 1, 1960, and founded NCP in 1999. He announced that decision during the launch of his autobiography’s second edition, ‘Lok Maze Sangati’. In response to his decision on May 3, NCP MLA and former Minister for Housing of Maharashtra Jitendra Awhad quit the National General Secretary post.

Then 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 requesting 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.

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, “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.”

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.”