Ajit Pawar’s NCP social media account suspended amid Sharad Pawar faction’s complaints

The account on X represented Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's group under the name "NCP Speaks 1", created to convey important announcements, party and leader-related activities.

Mumbai: The official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction has been suspended, after complaints lodged by leaders of Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP.

The account on X represented Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s group under the name “NCP Speaks 1”, created to convey important announcements, party and leader-related activities.

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‘NCP Speaks 1’ was suspended by X after multiple complaints by leaders of the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP who claimed that the account was a copy of the original NCP Speaks account.

On Wednesday, Ajit Pawar said that the complaint was lodged by leaders of his uncle Sharad Pawar-led NCP group for using the same name for their X handle.

The tension between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions has been constant after the latter’s dramatic exit from his uncle’s party in June this year. On July 2, Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and joined hands with the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction).

The development comes as Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde held an all-party meeting on the Maratha reservation on Monday and decided to give reservations to Marathas and accept other demands of the protestors.  “In the meeting, we have decided to give reservations to Marathas. The government is of the view to give reservations to Maratha without touching the other (caste) reservations,” said CM Shinde.

He further said, “The decision to give reservations to Marathas must be valid legally, and it must stand in law, so we are working on it… The government has accepted many of the protesters’ demands too.”

The meeting was called to address the protests and hunger strikes by people from the Maratha community. Manoj Jarange Patil, who works as a coordinator for the Maratha Morcha, went on a hunger strike for Maratha reservations. He is likely to break his strike as the Maharashtra CM has agreed on the Maratha reservation demand.

The state government reached an agreement after extensive talks with Martha community leaders. Jarange Patil has demanded a change in the ordinance issued by the state government regarding Maratha reservations.