Sharad Pawar's "Mid-Term Polls" Prediction As Eknath Shinde Takes Charge

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said that mid-term polls are likely in Maharashtra as the government led by rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde may fall in the next six months. He made the statement while addressing NCP legislators and other leaders of the party in Mumbai in the evening.

"The newly-formed government in Maharashtra may fall in the next six months, hence all should be ready for mid-term polls," an NCP leader, who attended the meeting, quoted Mr Pawar as saying.

"Pawar said that many rebel legislators who are supporting Shinde are not happy with the current arrangement. Once the ministerial portfolios are distributed, their unrest will come out, which will ultimately result in the collapse of the government," he said.

Mr Pawar also pointed out that the failure of this experiment will lead to several rebel MLAs returning to their original party. If we have merely six months in our hand, NCP legislators should spend more time in their respective assembly constituencies, he said.

Mr Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday following the collapse of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, while senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Mr Shinde's deputy.

Around 40 Sena MLAs led by Mr Shinde rebelled against the party leadership, which eventually resulted in the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Wednesday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)