The tussle between the rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions took a new turn after it emerged that the official handle of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction on micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter) has been suspended following complaints allegedly lodged by leaders of Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s group had created the handle ‘@NCPSpeaks1’ on X to convey announcements and showcase party and leader-related activities on the micro-blogging site.
However, sources within the Ajit Pawar faction said their party’s official X account was suspended since the past two days following complaints by the Sharad Pawar-led group that the handle was a near-copy of @NCPspeaks – the official twitter account of first the undivided NCP and now the group led by Mr. Sharad Pawar, Ajit’s uncle.
Mr. Ajit Pawar had split the NCP on July 2 thus year to align with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
He, along with eight other NCP leaders, had been immediately sworn-in as cabinet ministers.
Since then, a struggle for supremacy has ensued within the NCP, with Mr. Ajit Pawar, now with the ruling government, throwing down the gauntlet to his 82-year-old uncle over the party’s leadership.
The rebel faction led by Mr. Ajit Pawar has staked claim to the party name and symbol before the Election Commission (EC) while Mr. Ajit Pawar has claimed to be the new party president of the NCP.
While the tug-of-war over party supremacy is being played out before the Election Commission of India, the faction led by Mr. Sharad Pawar, earlier this week, cranked the pressure on the rebel group by petitioning the Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Neelam Gorhe, to disqualify the rebel NCP legislators in the Upper House of the State Legislature.
