Mumbai, February 5: Sunil Tatkare, the president of Maharashtra’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), asserted on Thursday that the oath-taking ceremony for Sunetra Pawar was not rushed.
He clarified, “I want to inform Maharashtra and its people that the ceremony took place after a three-day mourning period, specifically after 72 hours. I want to make this clear to avoid being targeted based on misinformation. There is no reason to say that the oath was hurried. We convened a meeting of the legislative party on the fourth day after observing the official state mourning period. On that day, we submitted a letter to the Chief Minister, who then requested the Governor to administer the oath to Sunetra Pawar. Therefore, the question of ‘hurry’ does not arise.”
Tatkare mentioned that decisions were made by the NCP legislative party under the leadership of Ajit Pawar, leading to their alliance with the NDA for the Lok Sabha elections. He stated, “We faced a setback in those elections. However, during the Assembly elections, Ajit Dada and all of us campaigned with great confidence across Maharashtra. We succeeded in winning 41 out of 59 seats under the ‘clock’ symbol.”
He questioned, “Naturally, since Ajit Dada was the leader of the legislative party and his unfortunate demise occurred, we initiated the process to select a new leader. What is wrong with that?”
In response to questions about the merger of the two factions of the NCP, he said, “I have no objections to anyone’s statements, but if the public learns who initiated discussions about the merger at the same place where the body was kept for the last rites, it will become clear who was actually in a hurry.”
He was addressing statements from NCP SP chief Sharad Pawar and other party legislators, who repeatedly claimed that several meetings regarding the merger had taken place with Ajit Pawar, who was supposed to announce it on February 12.
Earlier, NCP’s executive president Praful Patel stated on Tuesday that he would not discuss hypothetical questions regarding the merger.
Patel emphasized, “I will only speak about my party as it stands today. I will not comment on any hypothetical situation.”
He stressed that the decision-making process regarding the party’s future lies entirely with its current leadership and remains an internal matter. Patel mentioned that the party leadership assured Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar of their full support.
He added, “We requested her to take on the role of Deputy Chief Minister. She accepted that request. ‘Dada’ (Ajit Pawar) was a person who never believed in stopping. When we explained our position, she made the decision. We are pleased that she agreed. She indicated that the family observes three days of mourning; therefore, she came to Mumbai on the fourth day, and the oath was administered. I do not understand why people are still creating controversy.”
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