Pune:

The split in the Nationalist Congress Party has cast its shadow on the famed Diwali celebrations of the Pawars, with different events being organised for the first time by Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in Pune district.

In a post on X, Ajit Pawar said he will be organising his Diwali Padva celebration at Katewadi, his native village in Baramati, at 6:30 pm on Saturday, where he will be meeting residents and NCP functionaries.

The celebrations of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar will continue to centre around his Govindbaug residence, where members of the household, party functionaries and friends of the opposition stalwart have been gathering for years during Diwali.

According to party functionaries, before the NCP split in July last year, Ajit Pawar used to attend the event at Govindbaug.

Speaking on the issue, Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Baramati Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule said she did not have information about the event being hosted by the deputy CM.

She, however, added that everyone waits for the celebration organised at Govindbaug.

“As people from across the state come to greet Pawar saheb, we wait ardently for this joyous day,” she said.

The Diwali celebrations come amid the upcoming assembly polls, in which Baramati is slated to see a high voltage fight between Ajit Pawar and his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar.

In the Lok Sabha polls in Baramati, the household was once again split along party lines as Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar took on sitting MP Sule, who won convincingly.

The NCP split in July last year after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde government.

The ECI later recognised the deputy CM’s faction as the real NCP and gave it the ‘clock’ symbol, while the Sharad Pawar group was christened NCP (SP) with ‘man blowing tutari’ as its symbol.

Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be declared on November 23.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

With half a dozen key players post splits in the Shiv Sena and NCP, a fragmented polity, Maratha quota stir and a spirited opposition, Maharashtra will see a riveting contest in the assembly polls amid dramatic changes since the last elections.

Elections to the 288-member assembly, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh (403), will be held on November 20 in a single phase and the counting of votes will be on November 23, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.

The Nanded Lok Sabha by-poll, necessitated due to the death of Congress MP Vasant Chavan, will also be held on November 20.

The Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is banking on its flagship scheme, Ladki Bahin Yojana, under which poor women get a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500, to sway voters after the ruling bloc’s poor show in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Rs 46,000-crore a-year welfare scheme is being widely seen as a “game changer” for the ruling bloc which comprises the BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who joined the government just over a year ago after parting ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar.

The government’s target is to cover 2.5 crore beneficiaries under the scheme. There are about 4.5 crore women voters in Maharashtra.

The Mahayuti (grand alliance) is in a direct fight with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a state where splits within major parties and realignments in the last five years have led to a tectonic shift in political dynamics.

The MVA consists of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by veteran politician Sharad Pawar.

Both the MVA and the Mahayuti are yet to announce their seat-sharing deals.

The ensuing assembly polls, the first since the splits in the Shiv Sena in 2022 and the NCP a year later, will be a test of strength for the two major alliances and will also indicate the ability of their individual constituents to transfer votes to each other.

Even though the Lok Sabha elections saw the ruling alliance (which won 17 of 48 seats) suffering a jolt and the opposition MVA (30 seats) performing well, the assembly polls are going to be a different political ball game as state and local-level issues will dominate campaigning.

Maharashtra’s political climate has never been more fragmented, with six main parties vying for influence: BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).

This fragmentation is a product of recent political upheavals, including the collapse of the MVA government and the emergence of new political factions. The last five years have been unprecedented in Maharashtra politics — collapse of a pre-poll alliance, three regimes, including a three-day government, splits in two major parties with the Election Commission recognizing the breakaway groups as “real”.

The murder of former state minister and NCP leader Baba Siddique on Dussehra (October 12) raised concerns about law and order and came as an embarrassment for the Mahayuti government ahead of the polls.

The opposition was quick to target the government, especially Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, over the killing and highlight issues of public safety and governance.

In the last fortnight, the Shinde government has taken a staggering 1,500 decisions, including around 160 in state cabinet meetings. These include the toll waiver for light motor vehicles at all five entry points into Mumbai.

Despite reports that Ajit Pawar may walk out of the ruling alliance, he has stayed put. Maharashtra saw a change in government mid-way in June 2022 when the MVA government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray collapsed following a rebellion in his party Shiv Sena.

Shinde then succeeded Thackeray as Chief Minister with BJP support.

The 2019 assembly polls changed several dynamics. First, a pre-poll alliance between the Shiv Sena-BJP snapped over the issue of chief ministership. Later, Shiv Sena joined hands with its traditional rivals Congress and the NCP to form a government under Thackeray’s leadership.

Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan said the BJP is facing erosion in its voter base, while the grand old party has gained people’s trust by raising key issues like agrarian distress, unemployment and inflation.

Mahajan asserted the Congress is not complacent after its encouraging Lok Sabha poll show — the party won 13 seats in Maharashtra — and it continues to highlight pro-people issues.

He said the collapse of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg district, poor law and order situation, Maratha quota and agrarian distress were some of the issues the opposition is highlighting.

The Maratha quota demand, an issue which hurt the Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha polls, continues to resonate with a significant voter base, according to analysts.

In 2019, the BJP bagged 105 seats, emerging as the single largest party, while its then-ally Shiv Sena won 56. The Congress and its ally NCP contested 125 seats each and won 44 and 54, respectively.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The current trend of defection in political parties that end up with the defecting faction being recognised as the “real” party, was slammed by the Supreme Court today, which called it a “mockery of voters”.

Hearing a petition of the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, the court made it clear the situation bypasses the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which was put in place to bar defections and the subsequent political instability.

The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) had gone to court to challenge the award of party name and symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction by the Election Commission.

The poll body’s decision was in line with its earlier order that awarded the party name and symbol to the rebel faction of the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, who subsequently became the Maharashtra Chief Minister.

“When the Election Commission is recognising a faction only on basis of legislative strength and not organisational strength, is it not recognizing a split, which is no longer approved under the tenth schedule,” said Justice J Vishwanathan.

“That way, you can engineer defections and claim the party symbol. Will it not be mockery of the voter?” the judge added.

Pune:

NCP working president Supriya Sule said on Saturday that she has never said anything against her politically estranged cousin Ajit Pawar.

Ms Sule, who represents the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, was in Pune to pray to various Ganesh idols during Ganeshotsav.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) suffered a jolt in July after a group of party leaders led by Ajit Pawar broke away and joined the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra. Ms Sule has remained with her father and party founder Sharad Pawar.

Talking to reporters after paying obeisance to the deity at the Kasba Ganpati pandal, she said, “I never ask anything from God, I only thank them. This year, the state has received less rain, so I prayed to God for Maharashtra to receive good showers.” 

Asked about her recent speech referring to “bhai” (brother) in Parliament, Sule said, “Ajit Dada is my elder brother and I have never said anything against him. Whatever I said in Parliament is not against any person but against the statements made by honourable PM Modiji and Amit Shah.” 

Speaking in Parliament on the women’s reservation bill, Sule had said, “Har ghar mein aise bhai nahi hote hain jo behan ka kalyan dekhte hain (not every house has a brother that looks after the  well-being of the sister).” 

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised her party for the past 10 years but now he doesn’t say that NCP is a “Naturally Corrupt Party”.

“The BJP always conducted revenge politics. If allegations made against us are true, let there be an inquiry (against us). Also, if the allegations turn out to be false, BJP should apologise to us,” he said.

To a question about BJP Lok Sabha member Ramesh Bidhuri’s derogatory remarks in the Lower House against BSP MP Danish Ali, Sule said the comments were very unfortunate. The NCP and Trinamool Congress have already written to the Lok Sabha Speaker about the incident, she said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)