JE News Desk: Sharad Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party issued a whip to all its MLAs in Maharashtra Assembly asking them to be present at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai on July 5 (today). A major show of strength is likely as the rival NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar has also called a separate meeting today at MET Bandra.
Jitendra Awhad, currently the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and chief whip of Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction, has issued the one-line whip to all their MLAs, PTI reported. The meeting at YB Chavan Auditorium is scheduled to take place at 1 pm.
A whip is a directive issued by the political parties to their MLAs binding them to a course of action and if they go against that command, they may face the risk of punitive measures being taken against them. Ajit Pawar, whose rebellion led to the split in NCP, has claimed that the faction led by him is the real party.
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Here are the latest updates:
- Maharashtra's Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has explained the question that face him right now. He will have to decide whether the Nationalist Congress Party is in the government or part of the opposition, he said yesterday. "I can not divide the NCP into two factions as there is no official split. I will have to ascertain whether the NCP is in power or not," he was quoted saying by a Marathi news channel.
- Maharashtra's NCP unit President Jayant Patil, beonging to the Sharad Pawar faction, has submitted a petition to the Assembly speaker seeking disqualification of Ajit Pawar and the other eight leaders of the party who have joined the cabinet led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
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- In a similar move, Ajit Pawar's faction has also requested the Assembly Speaker to disqualify state unit chief of NCP Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad as Members of the Legislative Assembly.
- Ajit Pawar's faction needs the support of at least 36 MLAs to avoid getting disqualified for defection. The rulebook says if 2/3rd of all MLAs of a party shift their allegiance they cannot be disqualified for defection. The newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister claims to have the support of 40 MLAs.
- That is why today's meeting assumes special importance as it will, to a large extent, show which camp has the requisite number.
(With agency inputs)