On Wednesday, Anil Deshmukh, a leader from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar, asserted that the NCP office in Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature in Nagpur, belongs to his faction and not to the Ajit Pawar-led group.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature here, the former Maharashtra home minister also targeted the Ajit Pawar faction saying those who left the NCP should request the assembly speaker to arrange a separate office for them in the Vidhan Bhavan.
Replying to a question on who will have the NCP office in Vidhan Bhavan as Ajit Pawar-led faction leader Dharmarao Baba Atram claimed that the office belongs to his side, Deshmukh said, The party office will be ours only as some people left our party and moved out. The party office will remain with us only and those who stepped out of our party should request the speaker to arrange something for them. It is already our office and there is no question of us requesting it because some of our people left us, he added.
The winter session is set to take place from December 7 to 20. The NCP experienced a split on July 2 when Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs from the party aligned with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to form the government in Maharashtra. Since the split, both factions of the NCP have been in dispute over the party name and symbol, with each side petitioning the speaker to disqualify members aligned with the opposing faction.