'NCP will quit Cabinet if...': Shiv Sena leader's remark on Ajit Pawar triggers crisis for Mahayuti in Maharashtra

The remarks by a leader of the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena has triggered discord within the ruling Mahayuti inn Maharashtra. (File Photo: PTI)

The Ajit Pawar faction of the National Congress Party (NCP) has threatened to quit the Mahayuti Cabinet in Maharashtra if Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) leader and Maharashtra Health minister Tanaji Sawant is not sacked by the party.

Sawant said at a public event on Thursday that he "vomits" after coming out of meetings with NCP leader Ajit Pawar.

“Either he stays or the NCP. If he is not sacked, we should quit the Mahayuti Cabinet. I request our national president Ajit Pawar and all our senior leaders to quit the Cabinet,” The Indian Express quoted NCP spokesperson Umesh Patil as saying on Friday. The NCP leader also urged their leader Ajit Pawar not to attend any Cabinet meeting until Sawant is sacked.

“Even our ministers should boycott Cabinet meetings till Sawant is sacked. We will not accept Sawant’s apology or statement that he was misinterpreted. We want him out immediately,” Patil added.

"I have never got along with Congress and NCP all my life. In the Cabinet meeting, when I sit next to Ajit Pawar, I come out of the meeting and vomit," Sawant, a leader of the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, said on Thursday.

Patil further said that the NCP was not desperate for power and refused to work with a minister who makes such a disparaging comment. "He is not a minister who deserves to be in the Mahayuti Cabinet…he should be sacked immediately,” said Patil.

Hitting out at Sawant, Patil said that it was unusual for a politician to make such humiliating comments against fellow politicians. "Sawant is a cruel man at heart. If he is allowed to continue, it will tarnish the image of politicians. People will not allow politicians to purchase flats in their societies or live amidst them,” he added.

The incident comes amid reports of a discord within the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP, and suggestions that Pawar was being deliberately relegated to the sidelines in order to compel him to quit the alliance. Pressure has been mounting on Pawar ever since the NDA's ordinary performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the state. RSS-linked publications have blamed BJP's alliance with Ajit Pawar's NCP faction as the reason behind the NDA's drop in tally.

Meanwhile, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) said that it was a matter of disbelief how Ajit Pawar's party was tolerating such an insult. "I never imagined that Ajit Dada, who once commanded immense respect within the NCP, would compromise his self-respect for power," Mahesh Tapase, the chief spokesperson of the NCP (SP) said, slamming Ajit Pawar over his decision to break away from Sharad Pawar’s party, saying it appeared to have led to public humiliation rather than political gain.

"Sawant’s statement has effectively erased Ajit Dada’s political standing, and yet, his own party members remain silent," he added.