Mumbai, November 23: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has managed to keep the flock together hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party formed government in Maharashtra claiming to have the support of several NCP legislators including Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar. NCP chief Sharad Pawar swung into action immediately after the news of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar's swearing-in broke out on Saturday morning. By the end of the day, NCP secured its 50 out of 54 MLAs, including Dhananjay Munde. Sanjay Raut’s Latest Tweet Takes Dig at Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar’s Swearing-In.

Sharad Pawar held a joint press conference with Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and presented three of the MLAs who were with Ajit Pawar in the morning but returned to the party later. At the press conference, NCP legislator Rajendra Shingne said that he saw eight to 10 legislators when he reached Raj Bhavan. "None of us realised why we were brought there. After the swearing-in, we went to meet [Sharad] Pawar Saheb. All this happened because of some misunderstanding since Ajit Pawar had called us," he added.

Following the press conference, the NCP called a meeting of all its MLAs. The meeting was attended by at least 42 legislators. Of remaining 12, eight were in contact with the part and only four including Ajit Pawar refused to budge. Sharad Pawar Says 8-11 NCP MLAs Hoodwinked to Attend Swearing-in Ceremony of Ajit Pawar.

List of MLAs Who Came Back to NCP:

  • Dhananjay Munde

  • Diliprao Bankar

  • Manikrao Kokate

  • Rajendra Shingne

  • Sandeep Kshirsagar

  • Sunil Shelke

  • Sunil Bhusara

  • Narhari Zirwal

  • Sunil Tingre

  • Prakash Solanki

  • Babasaheb Patil

  • Sanjay Bansode

List of Rebel NCP MLAs:

  • Ajit Pawar

  • Daulat Daroda

  • Nitin Pawar

  • Anil Patil

Sharad Pawar also sent three senior NCP leaders Dilip Walse Patil, Sunil Tatkare and Hasan Mushrif to Ajit Pawar's brother, Shrinivas Pawar's residence, to convince the rebel nephew to return, but he refused to budge. All NCP MLAs who attended the party meeting were taken to Hotel Renaissance, Powai to thwart poaching efforts.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 24, 2019 10:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).