Leader of Opposition, state council and NCP MLC Dhananjay Munde is likely to be chosen as the state party president on April 29 in Pune
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to make major organisational changes. Leader of Opposition, state council and NCP MLC Dhananjay Munde is likely to be chosen as the state party president on April 29 in Pune.
The incumbent NCP state president Sunil Tatkare on Thursday said that he would not continue as a president. "I worked as party state president for more than four years. The party has given me everything — from ministerial posts to being the state president. I am grateful to our party and president Sharad Pawar for showing faith in me. I think I should be given different responsibilities now," Tatkare told DNA.
Top sources in NCP said that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has made up his mind to promote Dhananjay Munde, the young face from Marathwada as NCP state president. Initially, Jayant Patil, the former finance minister, Shashikant Shinde, and Jitendra Awhad were vying for the post.
"However, in the ongoing halla bol rallies, Dhananjay Munde received tremendous response. Munde turned out to be the crowd puller and his speeches were quite viral and well accepted on social media. Munde has emerged as a strong OBC leader and has got appeal across communities. Therefore, the NCP, which is called the Maratha dominated party, can keep the geographical balance by giving representation to Marathwada regions," sources added.
Another source said that the after the demise of former home minister RR Patil, NCP was missing a strong, non-corrupt crowd puller face. "This void of RR Patil can be filled by Munde ahead of Lok the Sabha and state assembly elections. Now, Munde has to work hard to galvanise the party cadre and turn the unrest into party victory. Pawar sahib is giving big responsibility to Munde. He has the scope to emerge as a strong mass leader like the late Gopinath Munde. If he does well, he can be promoted abd become the chief ministerial face as well," a senior NCP leader added, requesting anonymity.
The Leader of Opposition, State Council post held by Munde will be given to Sunil Tatkare. Tatkare is the senior most leader in the Upper House, where he will play the role of the Leader of Opposition in Upper House. "By choosing Tatkare, the Konkan region will also get justice. Pawar saheb may be the Maratha strong leader, but he always does social engineering and takes care that no section will be deprived while sharing power," a source said.
When asked, Tatkare refused to talk, while Munde was not available for comment.
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