Maharashtra: Praful Patel rules out two NCP factions coming together

Praful Patel. File Pic

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction leader Praful Patel on Thursday said that it was a misconception that the two rival factions of the party would soon come together, reported the PTI.

Speaking at a news conference at the Nationalist Congress Party's two-day conclave in Karjat, Maharashtra, working president of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP also claimed that the majority of public representatives, functionaries and workers of the party supported Ajit Pawar's decision to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance, as per the PTI.

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"There should be no confusion because some people in the (Sharad Pawar-led) NCP mislead people into believing that we are again coming together. I want to state it very specifically that we are working in the NCP under Ajit Pawar's leadership for Maharashtra's benefit," Praful Patel said, according to the PTI.

On the meetings between Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar, he said they do not meet often. The Pawar family had come together earlier this month for their annual Diwali get-together (where Ajit and Sharad Pawar were present), Praful Patel said.

Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in July this year, splitting the party founded by his uncle.

As to the dispute between the two factions for the party name and symbol which is before the Election Commission of India, Patel said the Ajit group has furnished necessary evidence and will present its case whenever given an opportunity.

On NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal receiving flak for stating that Marathas should not get quota out of the existing OBC reservation, Praful Patel said that Chhagan Bhujbal has never opposed the demand of reservation for the Marathas.

Earlier this week, Maharashtra Cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday said that he was not against any community, but asserted a social group has to fight to protect its rights, reported the PTI.

The comments had come in the backdrop of the ongoing agitation by the Marathas for reservation in government jobs and education, as per the PTI.

Chhagan Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes (OBC) category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.

(with PTI inputs)