 "Moved by love and trust in me: Pawar takes back resignation as NCP chief")
It was a vacancy that never arose. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Friday took back his resignation that he announced almost casually on May 2 and achieved what he had set out to do: Re-unite his party under his leadership, after a committee he had himself constituted rejected his resignation out of hand.
“My supporters and voters have been with me for so many years, so I cannot reject their sentiment. I am moved by the love and the trust in me. I am revoking my decision to retire from the post,” Pawar said in a statement to the media. This came hours after an extended meeting of the panel, following which NCP leader Jayant Patil said: “The panel requested Sharad Pawar not to resign at the moment and that he should stay until the parliamentary elections. The committee also passed a resolution stating that Pawar will be continuing for the party chief post. He might have taken this decision to give a chance to new faces but we have requested him to stay on his post.”
Pawar first sought a day or two to reconsider. But in a matter of hours, he had declared that he was no longer resigning.
Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar were present at the meeting in which the panel, led by senior leader Praful Patel, effectively stalled any succession plan in the NCP, for now. But Pawar hinted at major organisational changes when he said that the revocation of his resignation would be followed by big organisational changes to “allow the younger generation to take charge”.
He said the position of 'working President was offered to his daughter who turned it down. Ajit Pawar was not present at the press conference but Pawar told reporters not to 'read too much into that'.
He said the position of 'working President was offered to his daughter who turned it down. Ajit Pawar was not present at the press conference but Pawar told reporters not to 'read too much into that'.
This development is now being viewed by leaders with nervous apprehension. There was no word on the future of leaders like Jitendra Awhad, MLA from Thane, who had quit all positions in the party, along with the Thane unit.
Patel, who briefed reporters after the meeting of the committee, said: "Whatever Pawar said that day (May 2) was shocking for all of us. We had no idea that Pawar would announce any such decision (of a resignation) in that programme. All of you saw what happened after his announcement, and how people tried to express their feelings. Even after the programme, many senior party leaders met Pawar several times and we have been continuously requesting him that the country, state, and party want you to continue and you are the only one who can lead us.”
“The committee in today's meeting has passed a resolution unanimously. The resolution says that Pawar should continue as national president. His decision to step down from the president’s post has been opposed by everyone unanimously,” Patel told a press conference.
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“All of us want Pawar to continue as party president. He should respect the feelings of lakhs of us and he should continue as president,” Patel said, not clarifying whether Pawar would be party president for life or continue only until the 2024 general elections. Pawar on May 2 said he would step down from the party presidentship but asserted he would continue to stay active in politics.
However, there is no doubt that the restlessness shown by Ajit in returning to government via the BJP (with whom he had joined hands earlier) was nipped in the bud by the elder Pawar’s move.
Pawar also held back, for the moment, from projecting his daughter as an important pole in the NCP’s succession politics, possibly to forestall a rebellion by Ajit and his supporters in the party.
If the committee’s is the final word, the NCP will continue, under Pawar’s leadership, to stay on in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the umbrella coalition of all parties opposed to the BJP in Maharashtra. Later, this could have national implications for opposition unity.
There was no immediate reaction from the Congress. But sparring between the NCP and the Congress has spilled over to the Karnataka Assembly election and former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan (Congress) recently criticised the NCP’s move to field 40 candidates against the Congress across that state. Congress leaders said this was ostensibly the NCP’s move to wrest back its recognition as a national party. But Chavan said in an election where every vote is going to count, this was betrayal by an alliance partner.