During a weekly party meeting, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar issued a stern warning to agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate over his recent controversial statements, said sources.
They said that Pawar confronted Kokate during the closed-door meeting, expressing displeasure over comments that have embarrassed the party. The former also questioned the latter's absence from key public engagement events, sources added.
“If a minister makes a controversial statement once or twice, it can be forgiven. However, they won’t be excused at the third instance and could be stripped of their ministerial position,” Pawar told Kokate as per sources. However, NCP spokesperson Anand Paranjpe claimed that no such incident took place during the meeting, which was held on Tuesday.
According to the information, senior NCP ministers and leaders had gathered at Devgiri bungalow for the meeting. Kokate showed up half an hour late after the discussion started, which apparently irked Pawar. He lashed out at the minister for his controversial statements, indiscipline, skipping meetings and late attendance, said sources.
Apart from the dramatics, the meeting also focused on strengthening the party base ahead of the local body polls. To prepare for the elections, Pawar has etched out a schedule, as per which the deputy CM will be in Mumbai for official commitments every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
For the remaining four days of the week, he will tour the state. Pawar has also directed leaders to immediately submit their statewide tour schedules to the party president Sunil Tatkare. They have been instructed to hold party worker meetings, bring new members and strengthen booth-level presence.
