Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar faction is real NCP, rules Speaker; what Shiv Sena UBT said?

In another setback to the Sharad Pawar faction, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled on February 15 that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction-led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was the 'real' political party when two factions emerged in July 2023.

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar has given the verdict in the case of disqualification of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs. He has rejected all the petitions against the MLAs and declared them eligible. He described Ajit's faction as the real NCP. Ajit Pawar has the support of 41 MLAs.

In fact, in July 2023, Ajit Pawar had joined the BJP government alliance by breaking away from Sharad Pawar's NCP. After this, the Sharad faction had demanded from the Speaker to disqualify the MLAs who broke away from the party.

Regarding this, Ajit group had claimed that they have the support of 41 MLAs. They had described their group as the real NCP. On February 5, 2023, the Election Commission also declared Ajit's faction as the real NCP and finalized the name of Sharad Pawar faction's party as NCP Sharad Chandra Pawar.

Clear abuse of power by ruling coalition: Shiv Sena UBT

In response to the state assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar's verdict, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena strongly criticized the decision, labeling it as a clear abuse of power by the ruling coalition. Anand Dubey, the spokesperson for Shiv Sena (UBT), condemned the speaker's ruling, drawing parallels with a prior decision in the conflict between the Shinde faction and the Uddhav Thackeray bloc within Shiv Sena.

Dubey remarked, "Previously, the Election Commission affirmed that the Ajit Pawar-led faction represented the true NCP. Now, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar has also acknowledged Ajit Pawar's group as the genuine NCP. The nation is witnessing the misuse of power, and we condemn it." 

Dubey further added that, akin to Shiv Sena (UBT), the NCP faction led by Sharad Panwar intends to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

Anand Dubey said the doors of the Supreme Court are open. We all will definitely get justice there.