Sharad Pawar Steps Down As NCP Chief, Says He Will Not Contest Elections

Veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced that he is stepped down as the chief of Nationalist Congress Party.

I have decided to step down as NCP president, Pawar said in a press statement.

Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar, co-founded NCP Party in 1999 after they were expelled from the Congress over dispute with Sonia Gandhi, the former president of the party.

“I have three years tenure remaining in Rajya Sabha. I will not contest elections henceforth,” the NCP chief was quoted as saying by the Indian Express at the launch of the second edition of his autobiography, ‘Lok Maze Sangati’.

“I started my political career on 1 May 1960. Yesterday we celebrated May day. After this prolonged political career, one must think about stopping somewhere. One must not be greedy," he added.

Pawar recommended that a committee comprising senior NCP leaders be formed to decide the future course of action.

“The committee will include, Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, P C Chacko, Narhari Zirwal, Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujabl, Dilip walse-Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaydev Gaikwad and chiefs of party frontal cells,” he said.