The Supreme Court said on Monday it will hear on October 13 a plea by the Sharad Pawar led NCP for a direction to the Maharashtra assembly speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification petitions against Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and party MLAs loyal to him.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which said it will be heard along with a separate pending petition on Shiv Sena MLAs. Meanwhile, the NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction has decided to launch a statewide agitation against the arguments of the Ajit Pawar faction during the hearing before the Election Commission on Monday. Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil and Rohit Pawar have all started preparing for a protest to strike an emotional chord, party sources have said.
This Is Against Democratic Principles: Ajit Pawar
The Ajit Pawar faction on Monday had argued before the Election Commission that his uncle ran the Nationalist party like it was a home. He appointed several people and then the same individuals voted to elect him as party president. This is against the democratic principles and hence appointments made by him and his own election are illegal. Also, the party doesn’t belong to him, he said.
Before the commission comes out with its verdict, the Sharad Pawar faction wants to put its side before the people of the state. Senior Pawar would benefit out of an emotive appeal to the people, the leaders have felt. Old Pawar-loyalists from each district are being contacted and the new and old combine would run the campaign across the state, the leaders have said.
Rohit Pawar has decided to begin a ‘yatra’ to convey to people, especially the youth, how injustice is being done. The yatra is also expected to lodge scathing attacks against the BJP, Modi, Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and their respective governments.
