Patel, a longtime confidant of Sharad Pawar, stood with Ajit Pawar when he and eight NCP MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP administration in Maharashtra in July.
MUMBAI: NCP working president Supriya Sule singled out her estranged senior colleague Praful Patel on Sunday, dismissing the Ajit Pawar camp's "childish and laughable" claims against NCP founder and her father Sharad Pawar.
When the feuding sections of the party approached the Election Commission in Delhi on Friday, NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said that the Ajit Pawar camp, through its counsel, complained that Sharad Pawar governed the party in an undemocratic manner and treated it as his fiefdom.
"When it came to Praful Patel, Pawar saheb acted in an undemocratic manner." Many NCP MLAs rejected his nomination to the Rajya Sabha when it was announced. "But Pawar saheb put his foot down and said Praful Patel would be our Rajya Sabha candidate," Sule joked with reporters in Pandharpur.
Patel, a longtime confidant of Sharad Pawar, stood with Ajit Pawar when he and eight NCP MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP administration in Maharashtra in July. Patel was then fired as the NCP's working president.
Sule also said that Sharad Pawar decided "in an undemocratic manner" to appoint Patel a Union minister despite losing Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and overruling resistance from NCP politicians who are now with Patel, a member of the Ajit Pawar group.
"When it came to granting Praful Patel power and position, Sharad Pawar acted undemocratically." Sule continued sarcastically, "These allegations are childish and laughable."
Patel said after joining the Ajit Pawar side that the Nationalist Congress Party was not operated in accordance with the party constitution or electoral commission guidelines, and that its entire organizational structure was defective.
Following the squabble, Patel ran into Sharad Pawar at a conference of NCP loyalists in Mumbai and, more recently, at the new Parliament building in Delhi.
0 Comments