On 5th July 2023, Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar separately called the meetings of the NCP MLAs by issuing whips. The Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party has claimed that a majority of the elected representatives of the party in the Maharashtra state legislative assembly are with Ajit Pawar who along with over 30 MLAs defected from the party on 2nd July 2023 to join the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Ajit Pawar and 8 other leaders of the NCP also took oath as ministers in the state government. Ajit Pawar has now become the deputy chief minister of the state once again.
On 5th July 2023, both Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar called separate meetings and issued whips to MLAs. However, the exact count of MPs and MLAs supporting either Sharad Pawar or Ajit Pawar still remains uncertain.
Ajit Pawar called a meeting of NCP MLAs at 11 am today. On the other hand, Sharad Pawar has also organized a meeting of NCP MLAs at 1 pm. Ajit Pawar has called the meeting at MET College in Bandra, for which Anil Patil has issued a whip. Sharad Pawar has called a meeting at Yashvantrao Chavhan Centre. A whip has been issued by Jitendra Awhad for the same.
In the midst of these developments, Anil Patil, an NCP leader and whip of the Ajit Pawar faction, asserts that Ajit Pawar claimed the support of over 40 MLAs.
Anil Patil said, “We have issued whips to all MLAs. More than 40 MLAs are with us.” According to reports, another senior leader from the Ajit Pawar faction said that the government doesn’t want to prove any majority, so the numbers don’t matter here. He added that Ajit Pawar has the support of 95 per cent of the party MLAs. He said, “We are the NCP, our whip applies to all MLAs. If necessary, we will also face a court battle. Affidavits of 40 MLAs are with Ajit Pawar.”
