The long legal battle over the Shiv Sena split barely over, Maharashtra appears headed for another one -- this time in Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. The NCP's Ajit Pawar, who took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister with eight MLAs today, will have some way to go to evade action in the assembly and the courts. The new Deputy Chief Minister -- who appeared at a press conference with Praful Patel, one of the new working presidents of the party -- has claimed he has the support of practically the entire party. He also staked claim to the party's name and symbol, much like Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after the split in Shiv Sena.
Sharad Pawar, deeply humiliated by his nephew's claim that the NCP is backing him, said the truth "will be out soon". "I have called a meeting of the party leaders tomorrow, and there we will discuss the issue," he told the media shortly after Ajit Pawar took oath.
Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut tweeted that he has spoken to Sharad Pawar.
"Some people have taken up the task of cleaning up Maharashtra politics. Let them have their way. I just had a talk with Mr. Sharad Pawar. He said "I am strong. We have the support of the people. We will rebuild everything again with Uddhav Thackeray." Yes, people will not tolerate this game for long," Mr Raut tweeted.
Even if Ajit Pawar has the support of 50 of the party's 53 MLAs, Sharad Pawar, as the party chief, can still demand the disqualification of the rebels under 10th Schedule of the Constitution.
With the split provision removed from the 10th Schedule in 2004, one of the options available is to merge with another party. Even in that case under the recent judgment of a constitution bench of the Supreme Court, the original party has to merge (with another party) to avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.
During the hearing of the Shiv Sena case in March, the Supreme Court said the anti-defection law applies even if a faction splits from a political party and manages to cobble up a majority within the party. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud made it clear whether a faction is majority or minority makes no difference under the 10th Schedule.
"A split does not postulate that people who are party to the split leave the party… The Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) also operates when a group of persons, whether minority or majority, claim they belong to the same party," Justice Chandrachud had said.
So for Ajit Pawar, the next move should be to move the Election Commission and prove that he is the original NCP. Till that happens, he and his loyalists will face disqualification under the current laws.
Even then, as per the recent constitution bench judgment, proving to be the original party won't have retrospective effect under 10th Schedule.
At a press conference after taking oath, Ajit Pawar said, "The NCP party has joined the government. The NCP party name and symbol will be used by us to contest the election... The party is with us, a majority of MLAs are with us".
In 2019, though, when Ajit Pawar took oath with Devendra Fadnavis to form government in Maharashtra, he had been unable to deliver on his promise of bringing with him a chunk of NCP MLAs. The nascent efforts collapsed and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power.
This time, sources in the BJP are claiming that he has the support of 40-plus MLAs.
"Now we have 1 Chief Minister and 2 Deputy Chief Ministers. The double-engine government has now become triple engine. For the development of Maharashtra, I welcome Ajit Pawar and his leaders. Ajit Pawar's experience will help," Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tweeted.