Maharashtra Coup: 35 of 53 NCP MLAs, 5 of 8 MLCs attend Ajit Pawar's meeting

Amidst the on-going war between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, 35 of 53 Nationalist Congress Party MLAs and five of the eight MLCs marked their presence at the party meeting held by Maharashtra's new deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday, PTI reported citing party sources.

The number will increase further, the sources said to news agency Press Trust of India.

In order to avoid disqualification, Ajit Pawar's faction needs the support of as many as 36 MLAs, according to former principal secretary of Maharashtra Legislature Anant Kalse.


Both the Pawar camps of the Nationalist Congress Party are holding their show of strength meetings today. While Sharad Pawar is convening a party meeting in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai, Ajit Pawar is holding a meeting in Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar's supporters thronged his residence, Outside Silver Oak, in south Mumbai on Wednesday. A party worker was also seen carrying a banner which read: '83-year-old warrior waging a fight alone'.

Supporters of junior Pawar also gathered outside his Devgiri official residence.

"We are hard core Dada (as Ajit Pawar is called) supporters. We have come all the way from Baramati," an NCP worker told the media outside Devgiri.

MLA Anil Patil claimed that as many as 40 of the 53 party MLAs are with Ajit Pawar. These are the first meetings involving party functionaries for both factions since Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Hasan Mushrif, joined the Eknath Shinde government on Sunday. Both factions have claimed that they have most MLAs with them.

(With inputs from PTI)