India's Nationalist Congress Party tries to expel Ajit Pawar from Maharashtra assembly

Deputy chief minister has rebelled against his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar, who formed the NCP 24 years ago

Sharad Pawar, founder of the NCP, is the uncle and mentor of Ajit Pawar. Getty Images

India’s Nationalist Congress Party is seeking the expulsion of former opposition politician Ajit Pawar from the Maharashtra assembly after he rebelled against the party leadership.

Mr Pawar took up the post of deputy chief minister of the state last week after joining the alliance between Shiv Sena and the BJP.

Maharashtra is a political hotbed in India and is home to its financial capital, Mumbai.

Members of the state’s 288-member legislative assembly will head to the polls next year. But there have new political dramas, with politicians breaking away from their parties and joining the government.

Mr Pawar, 63, is the latest to join the coalition. He rebelled against his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar, who formed the NCP 24 years ago, but has not left the party. Instead, he is laying claim to the NCP, claiming he has the support of party workers.

Eight other NCP legislators were also made ministers in the government.

The NCP has submitted a petition to the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly seeking the disqualification of Mr Pawar and the other eight leaders.

“The very act of these MLAs of going to the governor of Maharashtra, and taking oath as deputy chief minister and ministers in the government led by Eknath Shinde – which is strongly opposed by the NCP – amounts to voluntarily giving up membership of the NCP political party,” the disqualification petition said.

The scenes were reminiscent of last year when Mr Shinde, 58, a one-time loyalist of former state chief Uddhav Thackeray revolted against him over claims that he was moving away from the party's main plank of Hindutva – Hindu supremacy.

Shiv Sena, a right-wing, Hindu ultranationalist, political party was formed by Mr Thackeray’s father, cartoonist and firebrand leader Bal Thackeray, in 1966.

This is the third time Mr Pawar has become the deputy chief minister in the last three years. He first rebelled against his uncle 14 years ago over his leadership style and criticised his decision-making.

In 2019, he again revolted against the senior leader and formed a government in alliance with the BJP but the government lasted only for 80 hours as the veteran leader managed to suppress the revolt and avoid a party split.