5 MLAs of NCP stayed away from voting for Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, will Pawar’s party break even after Shiv Sena?

Five Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs were absent from the crucial election process for Maharashtra Assembly Speaker on Sunday. In such a situation, there is speculation that all is not well within the party. Out of 53 NCP MLAs, only 46 reached Vidhan Bhavan to take part in the voting for the post of Speaker. Two NCP MLAs are in jail. RL Narvekar of BJP was elected president with 164 votes. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena) had named Rajan Salvi as its candidate for the speaker’s post.

The five NCP MLAs who did not participate in Sunday’s election are Dattatreya Bharane, Baban Shinde, Nilesh Lanke, Dilip Mohite and Anna Bansode. Apart from this, senior MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik are in jail on money laundering charges, who did not vote. NCP leaders said Bharane’s mother Girijabai had passed away on July 1 while Shinde was in Australia on a private visit. Mohite and Bansode were not allowed to participate in the voting process as they reached Vidhan Bhavan late. Lanke could not be contacted.

These leaders are considered close to Ajit Pawar
Most of these MLAs, who are absent during the voting process, are believed to be close to senior NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. People familiar with the matter said that a section of the NCP wanted to re-align with the BJP before the Shiv Sena split. However, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and party MP Supriya Sule were not in favor of such a move.

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What is the resentment among NCP MLAs?
There is also speculation of a split within the NCP as a section of party MLAs is said to be not happy. A close aide of Ajit Pawar said the senior leader feels that he has a natural claim on the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, but Sharad Pawar is also considering the name of the party’s state unit chief Jayant Patil for the post. .

Ajit Pawar did not say anything on this matter
A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Sharad Pawar late on Sunday evening, in which the issue of party MLAs not voting was also discussed. Ajit Pawar did not comment on the absence of NCP MLAs during the Speaker’s election. At the same time, Mohite said, “I reached on time but I had to use the washroom. The voting process started around the same time. Later I appealed to the security personnel to allow me inside, but they refused.” There is nothing that we are against the party.”