NCP Factions Fight Over Office Space in Nagpur Vidhan Bhavan

Mumbai: The two rival factions of the NCP are once again at loggerheads with each other over the ownership of the legislative party office at Nagpur Vidhan Bhavan. The Sharad Pawar faction on Wednesday asked the Ajit Pawar faction to request the Speaker to provide them with a separate office space as they have left the NCP.

Both factions claim they are the original party and the dispute is still pending before the Election Commission. The two factions have also filed disqualification against each other’s MLAs under the 10th schedule of the Constitution. Speaker Rahul Narwekar is expected to hear the NCP petitions after deciding the disqualification petitions against Shiv Sena legislators.

The winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly session will start in Nagpur on Thursday. Since there has yet to be an official split in the NCP, no separate office space has been allotted to the two factions in Nagpur Vidhan Bhavan. Both factions continue to share office space in Vidhan Bhagav, Mumbai.

However, former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh asserted that the legislative office rightfully belongs to the Sharad Pawar faction. “Those who defected from the NCP should formally request the assembly Speaker to allocate separate office space for them within Vidhan Bhavan,” he said.

Dharmarao Baba Atram, one of the nine NCP leaders sworn in as ministers on July 2, said that his party will allow the MLAs from the Sharad Pawar faction to share the party office space if they want and claimed that a few more MLAs will extend support to Ajit Pawar’s leadership. “Our strength in the legislative assembly will increase to 45. Some MLAs will take more time, but we are sure that they will also come with us,” the minister said.

Dismissing the claims made by Mr. Atram, Mr. Deshmukh said, “The party office will remain with us. Those who stepped out of our party should request the speaker to arrange something for them.”