Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar’s NCP Faces Major Defection As Pimpri Chinchwad Leaders Join Sharad Pawar’s Camp

Ajit Pawar's NCP faced a significant setback on Wednesday (17 July) as several leaders from Pimpri Chinchwad area joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SCP in Pune.

Among those who switched allegiance was Pimpri-Chinchwad chief Ajit Gavhane, who had resigned from his post and submitted his resignation letter to party president Sunil Tatkare.

Gavhane was joined by two former corporators from Pimpri Chinchwad, who had also resigned the previous day as per a report from The Economic Times.

Gavhane criticised the development work done by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, contrasting it with the contributions of both Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar.

He stated, "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 a wrong way, especially if you look at other constituencies. There was rampant corruption here and the sitting MLA is responsible for it."

Gavhane also mentioned other party leaders who had resigned, including corporators Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj and Yash Sane.

In another development, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal met Sharad Pawar on Monday to discuss the ongoing clashes between Maratha and OBC communities over reservation issues. This was Bhujbal's first meeting with Sharad Pawar since the NCP split in July of the previous year.

Bhujbal also emphasised the need for unity among party leaders to resolve the conflict, saying, "NCP-SCP Chief Sharad Pawar knows how the people of different communities are living in villages. I told him that there are clashes in villages in connection with the Maratha reservation. This can be stopped if leaders of all parties come together, otherwise, the situation will keep worsening. He (Sharad Pawar) said he would speak to CM Shinde and try to bring out a solution."

The NCP split last year when Ajit Pawar led a group of MLAs to join the ruling Eknath Shinde Sena and BJP government.