Ajit Pawar meets Pune NCP leaders amid mass defection
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar convened an urgent meeting with party leaders at the Pune Circuit House on Thursday after as many as 25 of its leaders switched sides. On Thursday, 25 NCP leaders, including Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief Ajit Gavhane, defected to the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), stating, "We believe only this party can take Pimpri-Chinchwad and the rest of Maharashtra forward." The defectors joined the NCP(SP) at party chief Sharad Pawar's residence in Pune.
Development work worsened after BJP: Gavhane
After joining, Gavhane claimed the development work has only worsened since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Pimpri-Chinchwad constituency. The area's civic body was controlled by the undivided NCP until 2017. "If you look at Pimpri-Chinchwad, both Ajit dada and Pawar sahab had contributed to its development. But since 2017, the BJP has been ruling PPMC (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation). The development work here was done in the wrong way, especially if you look at other constituencies," he said.
Defections amid internal strife and upcoming elections
The mass defection comes in the wake of growing dissent within the NCP following its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it secured only one seat out of 48. Party functionaries have attributed this to strained relations between Ajit and the party leadership within the ruling Mahayuti alliance. These political shifts occur ahead of the crucial Maharashtra assembly elections scheduled for later this year, with the current assembly's tenure set to end on November 26.
BJP's poor performance due to alliance with NCP, claims weekly
A Marathi weekly affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) claimed that voters turned against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its coalition with the Ajit-led NCP, leading to the party's poor performance. The party bagged only one seat in the election. According to the NCP (Sharad faction), this performance is a veiled message to Ajit to leave Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), and Ajit-led NCP.
More NCP leaders likely to quit
Party officials claimed the departure of key leaders from the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit could lead to more defections in the area. The NCP split in July of last year, when Ajit and a few MLAs broke away from Sharad and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government. Ajit took oath as deputy chief minister alongside eight other loyalist MPs who became ministers.
