Will have to decide whether NCP is part of govt or Oppn, who represents it: Maha Speaker

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Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Tuesday said he will have to first decide whether the Nationalist Congress Party is in power or in Opposition in the House and "who represents it".

State NCP president Jayant Patil has submitted a petition to Narwekar seeking to disqualify Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs after they joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government two days ago.

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"I can not divide the NCP into two factions as there is no official split. I will have to ascertain whether the NCP is in power or not (in the Assembly)," Narwekar told a Marathi news channel.

On Patil's letter nominating a new whip and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, the Speaker said, "I will first have to decide who represents the NCP as a political party. Then I will decide whether they have the support of enough MLAs to make such changes."

Narwekar had told reporters on Monday that his office had not received any petition mentioning a split in the Sharad Pawar-led party.

Ajit Pawar was Leader of Opposition in the Assembly before he took oath as deputy CM on Sunday.

The NCP has 53 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.

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