Ajit Pawar To Be Sacked From NCP After Sharad Pawar Camp Fails To Convince Him: Sources

Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, is likely to be sacked from the NCP, sources told the News Nation today. The party’s top leadership have decided to throw Ajit Pawar outside party after numerous efforts to convince him and come back to Sharad Pawar failed. There are reports coming in that the Sharad Pawar camp has given a final warning to Ajit Pawar. In case, he doesn’t return to the fold, he will be sacked from the party, sources said. A disciplinary panel has already prepared a list of Pawar’s anti-party activities. In case, he is sacked, Ajit Pawar will not have any legal status in the party. It should be noted that earlier in morning, Chhagan Bhujbal had met Ajit Pawar at his Mumbai residence. However, the meeting didn’t help in resolving the impasse.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday said it will pass an order at 10.30 am on Tuesday on the plea filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine against the Maharashtra governor's decision to swear-in Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister. A bench comprising justices N V Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna is likely to pass an order on holding of a floor test. The combine was pressing that the floor test be ordered on Monday itself, which was opposed by Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

When Fadnavis was sworn-in as chief minister on November 23, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had granted him 14 days to prove majority in the House. At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the secretary to the governor, narrated the sequence of events since the Maharashtra polls and said the governor was immune to the proceedings in the apex court.

Maintaining that the BJP had the support of all 54 NCP MLAs to form government, Mehta asked the top court for two to three days to file a reply to the combine's plea. The Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP has filed a plea against the governor's decision to swear-in BJP's Fadnavis as chief minister and NCP's Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister. The Centre said the governor had, in his absolute discretion, invited the largest party to form government on November 23.

Mehta told the apex court that the governor was not supposed to conduct a roving and fishing inquiry to ascertain which party had the numbers to form government. The apex court, after perusing Koshyari's letter inviting Fadnavis, said it had to be decided whether the chief minister enjoyed majority support on the floor of the House.