27 NCP MLAs keep away from Maharashtra assembly

As many as 27 of the 53 MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which has suffered a crippling split, did not attend the Monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly on the opening day on Monday.

One NCP MLA, Nawab Malik, is under judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case.

Of the 25 NCP MLAs who attended the House, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and cabinet ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, Dhananjay Munde, Anil Patil and Dharmarao Atram were seated on the ruling coalition side.

The MLAs who have extended support to Ajit Pawar and present in the House were Babanrao Shinde, Indranil Naik, Prakash Solankhe, Kiran Lahamate, Sunil Shelke and Saroj Ahire.

NCP state president Jayant Patil, a Sharad Pawar loyalist, as well as legislators Balasaheb Patil, Prajakt Tanpure, Sunil Bhusara, Mansing Pawar, Suman Patil, Rohit Pawar, Rajesh Tope, Ashok Pawar and Anil Deshmukh were seated on the side of the opposition.

Chief whip

The chief whip of the NCP (Sharad Pawar camp), Jitendra Awhad, has urged Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking a separate seating arrangement for members of the Ajit Pawar camp and the rest of the party MLAs.

In a letter, Awhad said that except for the nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar who have joined the government, the NCP is part of the opposition.

“The NCP is in the opposition and we want to sit in the opposition,” Awhad said.

On July 2, Ajit Pawar led a split in the NCP when he joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs as cabinet ministers.

(With agency inputs)