Pune, Maharashtra: Newly appointed working president of the National Congress party, Supriya Sule responded to reports of senior NCP leader and her cousin Ajit Pawar not happy with her appointment, she said that it’s all “gossip”. “Who says he (Ajit Pawar) is not happy, has anybody asked him? Reports are gossip”, said Supriya Sule to ANI.
“This is all gossip. Dada (Ajit Pawar) is the Leader of the Opposition in the state (Assembly). His position is equivalent to that of the chief minister. BJP is trying to target Ajit Pawar…sometimes they target me.”, she added.
On June 10, at the foundation day of NCP, Sharad Pawar appointed Supriya Sule and the current vice president of NCP, Praful Patel as working presidents of the National Congress Party (NCP). Sule was also appointed to put in charge of Maharashtra, a post earlier acquired by Ajit Pawar.
After her appointment, Sule visited Pune and met with the party workers and felicitated by them. She also paid tribute to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi Bhavan in Pune.
Maharashtra CM, Eknath Shinde hit out at NCP and accused the party leadership of promoting dynasty politics by appointing a family member as party president.
In response, Supriya Sule said she is proud of her family and does not away from it. She said her performance in the parliament is exceptional and she won Sansad Ratna for her work not because she is the daughter of Sharad Pawar.
“Yes, there is dynastic politics and I am extremely proud that I am a daughter of Sharad Pawar and Pratibha Pawar. I received the Sansad Ratna award not because I am the daughter of Sharad Pawar, but because of the work I am doing in Parliament.”, said Supriya Sule.
Sule also thanked the party workers saying her party believed in democracy and will report directly to Prafulbhai Patel and Sharad Pawar.
“After the appointment (as the working president), I will now report to Prafulbhai (Patel) and Sharad Pawar. Rather, NCP is a party where we believe in democracy, it’s not like a corporate office.”, she said.
Responding to Amit Shah’s statement in which he said that BJP will have 25 plus seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Supriya Sule said it is a democracy and everyone is allowed to say anything.
NCP founder, Sharad Pawar resigned as party president last month. However, he withdraw his decision after the NCP’s committee passed a resolution rejecting his resignation and requested him to continue to lead the party that he founded.
Happy with the decision: Ajit Pawar
Senior party leader and Sharad Pawar’s nephew responded to the reports by saying that he is ‘happy’ with the decision of the party.
“Some media reports claim that I am unhappy that the party did not give any responsibility to me is wrong. Our committee formed at that time when Sharad Pawar resigned. Two decisions are to taken at that time. The first was to request Sharad Pawar to withdraw his resignation and the second was to appoint Supriya Sule as a working President and it was suggested when the committee was formed. But the rest of the committee members said to focus on persuading Sharad Pawar to retract his resignation,” said NCP leader Ajit Pawar.
Ajit’s rebel in 2019
In 2019, Ajit Pawar rebelled from the party taking oath as deputy CM along with CM Fadnavis after BJP became the party with the highest number of seats in the election. Ajit’s move not received well by the NCP and its leadership. Since then, Ajit Pawar is at odds with his party and its leadership.