Mumbai, May 17:  Exactly 12 days after the Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar's "resignation bolt", the party is now geared up for organisational elections, a top official said here on Wednesday.

Pawar presided over the NCP Core Committee meeting in which discussions focussed on the upcoming civic, Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, besides intra-party polls, said chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase. Sharad Pawar Holds Meeting With NCP Leaders for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and Maharashtra Assembly Polls (Watch Video).

As he had promised on May 5 to rejig the party and bring up youngsters in leadership roles, Pawar on Wednesday directed that the party's organisational elections must be conducted as soon as possible.

Accordingly, two senior leaders and ex-ministers Dilip Walse-Patil and Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar have been appointed as returning officers for Maharashtra and Mumbai, respectively. They will discuss and soon announce the schedule for the NCP internal polls in Mumbai and entire Maharashtra, he said.

Additionally, senior leaders and former ministers like Anil Deshmukh, Rajendra Shingne, Dr. Jitendra Awhad, Dhananjay Munde, Shashikant Shinde, Sunil Shelke, Ashok Pawar, Anil Patil, and Aniket Tatkare have been appointed Booth Committee heads for various regions.

Other senior leaders are named as in-charge of various districts to oversee the organisational affairs of the party for the respective Lok Sabha and assembly seats falling in their jurisdictions.

Within a couple of months, the party will appoint booth-level workers and coordinators for each constituency for the upcoming general elections, said Tapase. The NCP has also planned a grand 24th anniversary celebration on June 10, this time in Ahmednagar.

The Core Committee took strong objections to the ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis' decision to revoke the suspension of former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.

"Is the BJP expressing gratitude to Singh for having falsely framed Anil Deshmukh in a fake corruption case based only on 'hearsay and rumours' without having an iota of evidence to back his claims?" demanded Tapase.

He said that the NCP will raise this and other similar issues before the masses to expose Shinde-Fadnavis who resorted to such tactics to topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in June 2022. Disqualification of Eknath Shinde's 16 MLAs May Lead to Fall of Maharashtra Government, Says NCP Leader Jayant Patil.

Top NCP leaders like Pawar, state President Jayant Patil, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, Fauzia Khan, Supriya Sule, Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare and others attended the first Core Committee meet coming just three days after the BJP was trounced in Karnataka, gladdening Opposition circles in Maharashtra.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2023 06:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).