Ajit Pawar urges NCP brass to ‘free him’ from post of Leader of Opposition

NCP leader Ajit Pawar urges party leadership to free him from his current party position of Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on June 21 raised political eyebrows yet again after he urged the party leadership to “free him” from his current party position of Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Ajit Pawar’s statement, made during his address at the party’s 24th Foundation Day in Mumbai, comes amid intense speculation of his reportedly being disgruntled at being denied a party position at the NCP’s recent reshuffle at the party’s Foundation Day function in New Delhi earlier this month.

“I have worked in many different posts in the past years. I was not much interested in the post of Leader of Opposition. But the party top brass and our MLAs insisted I take it up… Some said I was not tough enough [on the ruling parties]…am I supposed to catch them by the scruff of their necks? So, I have expressed my wish to the senior leadership to free me from this post. Give me any post in the organisation that you think fit and I will do justice to it,” said Mr. Ajit Pawar.

While his cousin Supriya Sule (NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter) was made party’s working president, Mr. Ajit Pawar was not given any post. At the same time, Mr. Ajit Pawar dismissed reports of him being “unhappy” after Ms. Sule and senior NCP leader Praful Patel were made working presidents of the outfit, stating that he already had the responsibility of being the LoP and preferred to remain active in Maharashtra’s politics rather than at the national level.  

He further highlighted his contributions in the victory of several NCP MLAs in the 2019 Assembly election while underscoring his swift decision-making style of functioning.

Mr. Ajit Pawar, who is Mr. Sharad Pawar’s nephew, was alluding to the frequent accusation made by his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners and members within his party that he was allegedly soft on Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Deputy and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, with whom he shares excellent personal relations.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ajit Pawar said that Mr. Sharad Pawar was “a bigger leader” than the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana and Bihar, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrasekhar Rao, and Nitish Kumar among others.