Maharashtra: MVA to launch statewide tour to galvanise cadres

Stung by the defection of Ajit Pawar and eight of its MLAs, who joined the Aknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government on Sunday (July 2), the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to launch a statewide tour to galvanise cadres to fight against the Shiv Sena-BJP government. The MVA is a coalition of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction UTB, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress party.

Meanwhile Congress leaders met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Tuesday (July 4) and expressed solidarity with him amid the crisis in his party.

The NCP is in churn after senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight MLAs who took oath as ministers. The Ajit Pawar camp has claimed the support of 40 out of 53 NCP MLAs.

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After attending the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting here, state Congress president Nana Patole and working president Naseem Khan went to YB Chavan Centre to meet Sharad Pawar. “Congress condemns the manner in which the BJP engineered a split in the NCP legislature party. The MVA will stay united and defeat the BJP,” Patole told reporters after meeting the NCP chief.

Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat said that the MVA will emerge stronger in view of the current crisis as people are with us. “The Congress stands united. Sharad Pawar is a senior leader and all of us look to him for guidance,” Thorat said.

Naseem Khan said that the MVA will soon launch a state-wide tour to galvanise its cadres to fight against the Eknath Shinde-BJP government. He said that the Congress expressed solidarity with Pawar and resolved to work unitedly.

An NCP spokesperson said that Sharad Pawar will be on a tour of Nashik on June 8.

(With agency inputs)