July 4th 2023.
The battle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is intensifying. Early this morning, Ajit Pawar, the current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and leader of the opposing camp to his uncle Sharad Pawar, faced an embarrassing situation due to a set of missing keys.
The drama unfolded when Ajit Pawar's loyalists arrived at the newly constructed 'Rashtrawadi Bhavan', a bungalow selected as the party office by Ajit Pawar, to prepare it for his scheduled inauguration later in the day. To their surprise, the entrance was locked and the keys were nowhere to be found.
Party leaders, observed seated on chairs outside the locked entrance, made urgent calls to locate the missing keys. Subsequently, footage revealed young leaders attempting to force open a lock in order to gain access. Upon entering, they encountered another obstacle: the doors to various rooms within the bungalow were also found to be locked.
The bungalow previously belonged to Ambadas Danve, who serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council and is a supporter of Uddhav Thackeray. NCP leader Appa Sawant, the vice-president of NCP's Mumbai wing, stated that Mr. Danve's personal assistant had stayed overnight at the bungalow and had locked up and left without giving the keys to anyone. He further alleged a conspiracy behind this incident.
The incident occurred on a day when both Ajit Pawar's faction and Sharad Pawar's faction were conducting crucial meetings to strategize their next moves. Additionally, the NCP's allies - the Congress and the Shiv Sena - were also holding a meeting to discuss the unexpected developments of the past few days.
In response to the rebellion within the party, Sharad Pawar has taken strong action by dismissing prominent leaders like Praful Patel, who participated in the ceremony where Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the government led by Eknath Shinde. The faction led by Sharad Pawar has also formally lodged a petition with Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, urging the disqualification of Ajit Pawar and his loyalists. The party has additionally communicated with the Election Commission, emphasising that Sharad Pawar, the founder of NCP, remains the head of the party.
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