NCP disqualification pleas: Speaker to start hearing from Jan 23, says Jayant Patil

Jayant Patil. File Pic/X

Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar will start hearing on NCP disqualification pleas, seeking disqualification of MLAs from rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions from January 23, a leader of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP said on Saturday, reported the PTI.

The NCP split in July last year after Ajit Pawar and eight party MLAs joined the Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde-led state government. Since then, both factions have laid claim to the party name and symbol and have petitioned the Speaker seeking disqualification of those owing allegiance to the other side.

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Talking to reporters, the Sharad Pawar-led group's Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil said that he came to the state legislature complex here on Saturday with the anticipation that his statement will be recorded, as per the PTI.

"But the Ajit Pawar faction sought more time to study the affidavits filed by us and the Speaker has given time to them. The hearing will start from January 23" he said, according to the news agency.

"It is now six months since some of our colleagues joined the government. We filed disqualification pleas against them. But it looks like the schedule in this case is prepared keeping in mind the Lok Sabha election schedule," Jayant Patil alleged, as per the PTI.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has heard our case and the order is expected any time, he said.

The NCP was founded by former Maharashtra chief minister and former Union minister Sharad Pawar in 1999. Since its formation, the NCP party remained part of the Congress-led government in the state until 2014, when BJP and undivided Shiv Sena came to power.

In November 2019, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress was formed in Maharashtra. But it collapsed in June 2022 following the rebellion by CM Eknath Shinde.

After that, the Eknath Shinde-led government of Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. NCP leader Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs of the party joined the government in July last year.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was being used as a tool to terrorise and silence political opponents, reported the PTI.

Sharad Pawar was responding to a query on grandnephew and party MLA Rohit Pawar getting summons from the ED to appear before the agency on January 24 for questioning as part of its money laundering probe into the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam, as per the PTI.

(with PTI inputs)