Ajit Pawar hold meet of NCP MLAs after Lok Sabha debacle; 5 legislators absent

Ajit Pawar. File Pic

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday held a meeting of Nationalist Congress Party MLAs after the party performed poorly in the Lok Sabha polls, reported PTI.

In the Lok Sabha results that came out on Tuesday, the NCP won just one seat (Raigad). It lost the prestige battle in Baramati, where NCP(SP) sitting MP Supriya Sule retained the constituency defeating Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra.

Ajit Pawar, who is NCP national president, party working president Praful Patel and state unit chief Sunil Tatkare, who retained Raigad seat, were present at the meeting.

Of the 41 MLAs in the party, some five were absent, sources said adding that deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal is abroad while others were unwell.

These sources said the leaders and MLAs discussed the prevailing political situation as well as the party's performance in the four Lok Sabha seats it contested in the state.

Meanwhile, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar today met the newly-elected MPs of his party here and held interactions with them.

The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) has won eight out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats it contested in Maharashtra in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections. It fought the polls as a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress.

Of the eight newly-elected parliamentarians, only Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Nilesh Lanke (Ahmednagar) were absent for the meeting at the party office here.

All other MPs - Amol Kolhe (Shirur), Bhaskar Bhagre (Dindori), Suresh Mhatre (Bhiwandi), Bajrang Sonawane (Beed), Dhairyasheel Mohite Patil (Madha) and Amar Kale (Wardha) were present.

Pawar interacted with the MPs as well as the party cadres, and took stock of his outfit's performance in the elections.

By winning eight out of 10 seats, the NCP (SP) has achieved an impressive strike rate of 80 per cent. In contrast, the Nationalist Congress Party led by his estranged nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar won just one of the four seats it contested, recording a strike rate of 25 per cent.

The eight seats won by the NCP (SP) include Baramati, which witnessed a riveting family battle between Sharad Pawar's daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule and Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar.

The Ajit Pawar-led NCP emerged victorious only in the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency, with the party's state unit president Sunil Tatkare defeating his Shiv Sena (UBT) rival Anant Geete.

The rebellion by Ajit Pawar in July last year led to a split in the NCP. The Election Commission identified the Ajit Pawar-led camp as the "real NCP" and allotted the party symbol 'clock' to it.