The internal rift within NCP surfaced after a group of senior party members met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi without party chief Sunetra Pawar and her elder son and Rajya Sabha member Parth Pawar
The meeting ended at 10:30pm and official comments by NCP state president Sunil Tatkare skirted this issue and instead focused on “drought in several parts of the state and steps that ministers need to take post-Diwali”. They also asked if the finance portfolio would be returned to NCP,” Tatkare said. He has been trying to force his way in almost every decision, without taking party seniors into confidence,” a senior lawmaker from NCP told TOI . They tried to take up the issue with Sunetra, but she failed to take any corrective measures, according to NCP functionaries. Another NCP senior told TOI , “Some appointments were recently made at the national level and in Mumbai. NCP sources said the decisions were taken by Parth without consulting party seniors. Minister Chhagan Bhujbal publicly said he was unaware of the appointments and had learnt about them only through media reports. He has been trying to influence almost every decision without taking seniors into confidence,” a senior lawmaker from NCP told TOI .
“The party continues to work unitedly under Sunetra Pawar’s leadership. Some MLAs complained that they were not getting adequate funds from govt departments. In the run-up to Tuesday’s meeting, several NCP functionaries objected to the party’s current ways of functioning. “After Ajit Pawar’s death, NCP had unanimously selected Sunetra Vahini as the party chief. However, issues started cropping up with growing interference in the party’s functioning by Parth. These appointments were not unanimous. There are discussions within NCP that Parth wanted a reshuffle in the party, by bringing in some new faces and sidelining some old in the state cabinet. Last week, Umesh Patil replaced Brijesh Shrivastava as the NCP’s chief spokesperson and Zeeshan Siddiqui was named its Mumbai unit president. The internal rift within NCP surfaced after a group of senior party members met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi without party chief Sunetra Pawar and her elder son and Rajya Sabha member Parth Pawar. Those present at the meeting with Shah included Rajya Sabha MP and NCP national working president Praful Patel, state president Sunil Tatkare, ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, former ministers Dilip Walse Patil and Dhananjay Munde, and former MLA Samir Bhujbal. “After Ajit Pawar’s death, the party unanimously selected Sunetra vahini as the next chief.
Earlier reporting noted: Members at the meeting questioned recent appointments to party posts as well as the functioning of Parth. Pune: Discontent among NCP seniors over Rajya Sabha member Parth Pawar’s growing role in the party’s decision-making was at the core of a discussion chaired by its president and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar at her Mumbai residence on Tuesday.