Ajit Pawar has removoed Sharad Pawar as the National President of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), according to sources. He has reportedly told the Election Commission that he is the elected chief of the party. Sources in the rebel faction said they have also mentioned this in their letter to the Election Commission, in which they have staked claim to the party name and election symbol. "Today's discussion is who has how many MLAs are with us. I don't pay attention to this. In the past I had 68 MLAs, when I went out for some time, 62 left us, I had just six... In the election, out of 62, only four could come back. We won with new faces," he said."If someone says that they will take our symbol -- let me tell you that the symbol of the party will be with us, it won't go anywhere. If the ideology of the party is with the workers, we don't have to worry… I have contested on a number of symbols," he added.
The Election Commission has reportedly received a petition from Ajit Pawar staking claim to NCP and the party symbol. News agency ANI reported citing sources that said the Election Commission has also received a caveat from Jayant Patil, who is with the Sharad Pawar group. He also informed the panel that they have initiated a disqualification process against nine MLAs who joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state on Sunday.The senior Pawar also claimed that they weren't taken into confidence by the MLAs who decided to split. The Ajit faction has not followed any procedure, he alleged.“You (BJP) called the NCP corrupt. So, why have you allied with the NCP now?... Whatever happened to Uddhav Thackeray has been repeated,” Sharad Pawar also took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party.“Today, the entire country is watching us...This meeting is historic for NCP. We have to keep marching ahead despite the hurdles in our way,” the NCP chief said.The NCP led by Sharad Pawar held a meeting of its members at YB Chavan Auditorium in Mumbai while Ajit Pawar was at a meeting of NCP MPs, MLAs, MLCs, district heads and state delegates at Mumbai Education Trust (MET) Bandra.The parallel meetings came after the two factions announced crucial appointments to assert their control over the party.