Maharashtra political crisis: Another setback for Sharad Pawar as all 7 NCP Nagaland MLAs extend support to Ajit Pawar

In another setback to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, all the seven NCP MLAs in Nagaland have sent a letter of support to Ajit Pawar and his faction.

NCP Nagaland president Vanthungo Odyuo has confirmed that all the seven NCP MLAs in the north-eastern state sent a letter in favor of Deputy Chief Minister Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar on Thursday morning, news agency ANI has reported.

Vanthungo Odyuo said that he has all the papers required for their support and he has submitted those to the 'high command' Thursday morning.

Also read: Maharashtra cabinet reshuffle: Who gained and who lost after Ajit Pawar's entry?

The political landscape of Maharashtra underwent a significant shift the last month when Pawar and eight other Nationalist Congress Party MLAs joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government. This move effectively split the NCP, which was founded by Sharad Pawar.

His political split in the party changed the political equations of Maharashtra ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

While Ajit Pawar has drawn support from NCP leaders like Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dilip Walse Patil and claimed his faction to be the 'real NCP', Sharad Pawar has also asserted himself to be the party boss by expelling several leaders for 'anti-party activities'. 

Ajit Pawar's move is same as the Eknath Shinde split the undivided Shiv Sena last year and joined his hands with the BJP, thereby pulling the Uddhav Thackeray led Maha Vikas Aghadi government out of power and securing the Chief Minister's post for himself. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Maharashtra government had tabled the supplementary demands worth ₹41,243.21 crore for the year 2023-24 in the state Assembly on the first day of its monsoon session with highest allocation being sought for the Urban Development Department, a report by PTI stated.

Of the total amount, ₹34,001.53 crore is from the revenue account and ₹7,004.50 crore in the capital account. The supplementary demands, which are additional funds sought by the government over the budgetary allocation, were tabled by Finance Minister Ajit Pawar.

This was also the second-highest supplementary demand in the last three years and eight months. After the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government took charge in November 2019, supplementary demands worth ₹2,27,121.23 crore have been submitted. In Budget 2023-24, the Shinde government submitted a supplementary demand of ₹6,383.97 crore.

Of the total supplementary demand of ₹41,243.21 crore, the government proposed an allocation of ₹6,224.55 crore for the Urban Development (UD) Department out of which ₹2,100 crore is for stamp duty surcharge of Metro Railway, while ₹3563.16 crore is towards the seventh pay commission arrears for teaching and non-teaching staff, PTI said.

(With inputs from agencies)