Pune: Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar has on Wednesday announced yet again that he will clear the smoke screen around his rumored exit from the NCP within the next couple of days. In the run up to the October 21 assembly elections several NCP stalwarts have steadily deserted Pawar’s party for the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena. Since the April-May Lok Sabha elections early this year reports have been doing rounds about Nimbalkar is searching for greener political pastures elsewhere.
“These rumours about my leaving the NCP have been floating around for the past month. But I have never said anything officially. I have remained silent. Now, I will announce my decision within two days,” said the veteran NCP leader. It may be recalled that recently when the issue cropped up Nimbalkar had famously remarked that he did not wish to give any further pain to NCP chief Sharad Pawar at this late age and had added that leaving the side of Pawar would sound political death knell for him as well.
The 71-year-old Naik-Nimbalkar, who hails from the royal family of Phaltan in Satara, has not yet taken the extreme step even though his fellow royals from Satara – ex-NCP MP Udayanraje Bhosale and former NCP MLA Shivendraraje Bhosale – have already switched over to the BJP.
“In Phaltan, politics has been very different from the rest of the district. It always has had a liberal tradition. My family has never hankered after posts or ministerial portfolios but only concerned itself with the uplift and development of Phaltan. So, whatever decision I take will be for the well being of the region,” he said, while refraining from directly commenting on his anticipated exit from the NCP.
The NCP leader was supposed to announce his decision more than a fortnight ago at a meeting of his supporters in Satara, has been wavering in his stance since then. At the same time, he has targeted Udayanaraje Bhosale and former Congressman Jaykumar Gore, who both joined the BJP for failing to bring about any development in Satara. A bitter rival of Udayanraje Bhosale, Naik-Nimbalkar has never failed to hit out at the flamboyant ex-MPs ‘style’ of conducting himself, remarking that it did not behove a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji to act in such a fashion.
According to political observers, since Bhosale has joined the BJP, it is expected that Nimbalkar will join the Sena given the intense acrimony between the two royals.
According to a political analyst “the real reason behind Nimbalkar wanting to quit the NCP is because he wants to hold on to his post as Chairman in the Legislative Council. It is not that he is particularly disaffected with the NCP. But the fact is that the BJP is now the single largest party in the Legislative Council. Hence, the NCP leader would want to be on the winning side”.
