Maharashtra Elections: Ajit Pawar to make 'big announcement' today amid buzz over rift with CM Eknath Shinde

NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. (PTI photo)

Nationalist Congress Party president and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is set to make a “big announcement” on Friday, sources close to the leader said. Pawar has called a press conference in Mumbai at 6.30 PM this evening in this regard.

The development comes a day after Pawar walked out of a Cabinet meeting, reportedly over disagreements with Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde.

The NCP’s relations within the ruling Mahayuti also comprising the BJP and Shiv Sena hit a rough patch after the Lok Sabha elections where the Pawar-led outfit could only win one seat and refused to accept an MoS rank in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, insisting that it would rather wait for the right time than accept a rank any less than that of a Cabinet minister.

The NCP also came under fire from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh after the NDA was stunned by the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Sharad Pawar (SP) and the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections which bagged 30 of Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats while reducing the NDA’s tally to 18. The RSS blamed the BJP's decision to form an alliance with the NCP as the reason behind the NDA's fall in tally.

Earlier today, CNN-News18 reported citing sources that Pawar and Shinde entered into a heated argument at the Cabinet meeting over the Deputy CM’s refusal to approve some of the proposals suggested by Shinde in view of the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

This, as per the sources cited above, triggered a heated exchange between Shinde and Pawar, leading to the Maharashtra deputy CM exiting the meeting in a huff.

Ajit Pawar later sought to play down the incident, saying that he did not exit in a huff and took due permission from Shinde before leaving.

“I didn’t leave within just 10 minutes of the meeting starting. I left with due permission from Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis as I had scheduled meetings in Latur’s Udgir constituency. I had a flight to catch at 1pm, hence I left the meeting,” he told News18.

Assembly elections in Maharashtra are expected to be held next month with the Election Commission of India likely to announce the poll schedule soon. An EC team visited the state earlier this month and took stock of the preparations. The term of the current state Assembly concludes on November 26.