NCP chief Sharad Pawar to embark on Maharashtra tour amid string of resignations

Mumbai: National Communist Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will embark on a tour to Maharashtra from September 17, even as a string of leaders have resigned from the party recently. The first phase of the tour will focus on the districts of Marathwada and western Maharashtra.

The party has witnessed a mass exodus as senior leaders including Satara Udayanraje Bhosale and former state president Bhaskar Jadhav recently submitted their resignations in order to join rival parties BJP and Shiv Sena.

Satara Udayanraje Bhosale joined the BJP in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday morning. Bhosale, who is one of the NCP's four MPs from Maharashtra, is a descent of Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Jadhav joined Shiv Sena on Friday at 2 pm at Matoshri Bungalow in presence of the party chief Uddhav Thackeray and other senior leaders on Friday. He was part of NCP since 2004 and also the sitting MLA from Guhagar constituency.

The party morale hit an all-time low after leaders that have been an integral part of the political outfit since a decade resigned. This comes even as Assembly elections in the state are scheduled to take place later in the year. 

NCP chief Pawar will visit 10 districts in phase one of his tour including Solapur, Beed, Usmanabad, Latur, Hingoli, Parbhani, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar and Satara.

The NCP chief will take a review of the ground situation and also interact with younger leaders to contest the Assembly elections. BJP is currently in power in the state.