Pawar names Sule, Patel NCP working chiefs

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 10

A month after averting a rebellion in the ranks, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Saturday effected a generational shift in the outfit appointing daughter Supriya Sule NCP’s working president and central election authority chairperson.

Settling the succession issue, Sharad offered no role to nephew Ajit Pawar in the latest party revamp wherein NCP vice-president Praful Patel landed the position of party working president alongside Supriya.

Sharad made the announcement today, as the NCP entered its 25th year. The party was founded by Sharad, Tariq Anwar and late PA Sangma in 1999 after the trio quit the Congress protesting then party president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins. Importantly, Ajit Pawar, trumped by his uncle, congratulated Supriya and Patel on their appointments and was also present when the announcement was made in Mumbai at the event to mark 24 years of the NCP. Addressing a press conference later, Sharad dismissed suggestions that Ajit was unhappy with the developments. “The suggestion to make Supriya Sule the NCP working president was made by Ajit Pawar. So, where is the question of him being happy or unhappy?” Sharad asked.

On a question about whether Praful or Supriya could succeed him as NCP chief in the future, Sharad said: “There is no vacancy now. We can talk about it when there is a vacancy.” The developments come a month after Sharad thwarted Ajit’s covert attempts of a coup in the NCP and his frequent flings with the BJP. Sharad, by announcing his resignation, united the NCP cadre behind himself and later retracted the move after a party committee rejected his resignation.

The rise of Supriya Sule, a three-time MP from Baramati, and Sharad Pawar’s confidant Praful Patel mark a significant shift in NCP politics, with the inheritance issue almost settled now.

It remains to be seen what role Ajit would get in the new NCP, and whether he would be trusted to be the party’s CM face in the next elections.

Pawar also dismissed a question on promoting nepotism saying, “This (the elevations) is a conscious decision taken by the entire party, not me alone. If I had to make a decision, why would I have waited all these years?”

BJP’s Amit Malviya took a dig at the NCP saying: “If only Sharad Pawar loved his nephew as much as Mamata Banerjee loves hers.”