4 Top Leaders Quits Ajit Pawar Party Ahead Of Maharashtra Assembly Polls (image-twitter/AjitPawarSpeaks)

Maharashtra: NCP Ajit Pawar faction has met with another blow after its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections. Now, top four leaders have resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party in Pimpri Chinchwad.

The resigned leaders are likely to join the Sharad Pawar faction later this week. The development has come amid a buzz that some leaders in the Ajit Pawar camp are willing to return to the Sharad Pawar fold, reports NDTV.

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Ajit Gavhane, the chief of NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, is among those who have submitted their resignations. Other leaders are Pimpri Chinchwad Student’s Wing chief Yash Sane and former corporators, Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar.

Last month, Sharad Pawar had said that he would not take in anyone who would wish to “weaken” his party but would accept leaders who would not “hurt” the image of the party.

“Those who wanted to weaken the party would not be taken in. But those leaders who would help strengthen the organization and not hurt the image of the party would be taken in,” he had said.

Ajit Pawar-led NCP contested the Lok Sabha elections as part of the BJP-led NDA but could win just one seat-Raigad while Sharad Pawar-led NCP bagged eight.

The split came in the party after a rebellion by Ajit Pawar against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar in 2023. While Sharad Pawar remained in the Opposition camp, Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and was rewarded with the post of his deputy.

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Maharashtra is going to polls in October-November. Last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar stated that the opposition MVA will comfortably win the election to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.