While announcing that the party MLAs from Nagaland have all extended their support to the Ajit Pawar faction, senior NCP leader Praful Patel on Monday also stated that their case is different from that of the Shinde group's case. He also said that the faction has support of 43 MLAs in the state.
Our case is very simple, says Patel
"The Shinde group has several issues to deal with. Ours is not like that, it is a very simple case," Patel said at a press conference here on Monday while referring to the disqualification petitions filed against MLAs of both the parties.
Patel also said that all the party MLAs in Nagaland have extended their support to Ajit Pawar and they had even sent a letter to this effect on June 30 itself.
He also made it clear that while the party, which was national party before April 1, 2023, has been confined primarily to Maharashtra and Nagaland now, they can contest in other states also. "We would be confined to Maharashtra and Nagaland till we raise our voting percentage," he said.
Elections not conducted in party as per constitution: Praful Patel
While replying to questions about the Constitution of the party, Patel said that the elections had not been conducted in the party as and when they were expected to be held as per the constitution. "We became office bearers after just one party conclave. That is not correct according to the party's Constitution and is hence illegal," he said.
"All the state heads of the party had always been nominated presidents and moreover their appointments were authorised by my signature. I just want to say that the appointments are made, but the party is important. If the appointments are as per the constitution, they are valid. Our party doesn't have a record of elections because no election was ever held. No appointments of office bearers were done as per the constitution of the party. We have told this to the Election Commission as well as the Supreme Court," Patel said.
Patel also added that in 2003 the petition was filed between P A Sangma and Sharad Pawar in the party and he was the person who took it to the Election Commission and he was handling it since then.
