Mumbai: A crucial Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) meet in Mumbai is likely to arrive at a decision on who will succeed Sharad Pawar as party president on Friday.
The committee created by Pawar to choose his successor will convene at 11 am in the party office in Mumbai, according to NCP officials. Supriya Sule, Mr. Pawar's daughter, is likely to take over as party leader if he sticks to his choice, they claimed.
At the same time, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday came to the Y B Chavan Centre to meet NCP functionaries for the second consecutive day after announcing his decision to step down as the party chief.
He will meet party workers and leaders during the day.
On Wednesday also, Pawar was at the YB Chavan Centre where he met party workers from different parts of the state.
The 82-year-old leader on Tuesday said he is stepping down as chief of the NCP which he founded and helmed since 1999, but not retiring from public life.
The announcement, made at an event, had stumped leaders and workers of the 24-year-old party, and many were seen crying and pleading with the Maratha strongman to reconsider his decision.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar later on Tuesday announced that his uncle will need two to three days to "think over" his decision.
NCP's national vice president Praful Patel on Wednesday said there is no question of picking Sharad Pawar's successor as the party chief until there is a final decision on his announcement to quit the post.
He said Sharad Pawar has not relented despite repeated appeals from NCP leaders and supporters that he withdraw his decision to step down.
The party committee, which Sharad Pawar himself set up on Tuesday to decide on his successor, did not meet on Wednesday, he said.
"If the situation arises, the committee will decide on Pawar's successor and the decision will be unanimous. He sought time to think over his decision after the party asked him to reconsider it, and till the final decision is arrived at, there is no question of deliberating on his successor," Patel said.
On speculation about Sharad Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule emerging as the choice for national president and Ajit Pawar as the Maharashtra unit chief, Patel said, "There is no vacancy. Whether Pawar remains president or not, he is the party's identity and soul."
(With PTI inputs)
