22 February,2024 09:14 AM IST | Pune | mid-day online correspondent
Sunil Tatkare. Pic/X
Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sunil Tatkare on Wednesday said the ruling Mahayuti alliance will strive to win more than 45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming elections, reported news agency PTI.
He hinted that some leaders are interested in joining the Ajit Pawar-led party without elaborating.
"Some (leaders) criticise Ajit Pawar and NCP but there are others who are interested in joining us. Our alliance has the set the goal to win more than 45 seats in the Lok Sabha elections," Tatkare told reporters, reported PTI.
The Mahayuti alliance comprises Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Nationalist Congress Party.
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"The Election Commission allowed us to retain the party name but some invisible power is criticising us, but we won't lose patience. We are fighting a battle of ideology. We will strengthen the party network," Tatkare added, reported PTI.
He said Congress always used minorities as a vote bank.
Tatkare claimed that if Ajit Pawar was not appointed as Deputy CM in 2019, the then Maha Vikas Aghadi government wouldn't have survived, reported PTI.
"The contribution of Ajit dada is more than any other leader. He plays the biggest role in ensuring the party's victory," the NCP MP added, reported PTI.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar and 10 MLAs belonging to Sharad Pawar's NCP faction on petitions challenging the speaker's decision to not disqualify them, reported PTI.
Anil Patil, chief whip of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had filed two petitions challenging the speaker's decision to not disqualify 10 MLAs from the Sharad Pawar camp, reported PTI.
A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla on Wednesday also issued notice to the Maharashtra legislature secretariat and directed all the respondents to file their affidavits to the petitions.
The HC posted the matter for further hearing on March 14, reported PTI.
Patil in his petitions requested the high court to quash the speaker's recent order by declaring it bad in law, and also disqualify all the 10 legislators.
The petitions challenged the "legality, propriety and correctness" of the order passed by Narwekar dismissing the disqualification petitions filed against the MLAs belonging to the Sharad Pawar faction, reported PTI.
Patil's counsel Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday told the court that the major findings made by the speaker were in Ajit Pawar's favour except the part where the 10 MLAs were not disqualified.
"The speaker has ruled that the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is the real political party. Even the Election Commission had ruled in Ajit Pawar's favour. But still the 10 MLAs (from Sharad Pawar's faction) were not disqualified," Rohatgi said, reported PTI.
The actions of the 10 MLAs were against the interests of the party and hence they ought to have been disqualified, the senior counsel argued.
"The speaker has wrongly held that this was a case of internal strife within the party. But that is not our case. This is not just a case of internal dispute," Rohatgi said, reported PTI.
The bench, after hearing the arguments briefly, said it would issue notices to the respondents and direct them to file affidavits and hear the matter further, reported PTI.
Narwekar last week held that the faction led by Ajit Pawar is the real NCP, but didn't disqualify MLAs of either faction.
(With inputs from PTI)
