Ajit Pawar ahead in numbers game; 35 of 53 NCP MLAs attend his meeting
Mumbai (PTI): As many as 35 of 53 NCP MLAs were present at the party meeting convened by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Mumbai on Wednesday, party sources said.
The number will increase further, the sources said. Five of eight NCP MLCs are also attending the meeting taking place in suburban Bandra, they said.
According to former principal secretary of Maharashtra Legislature Anant Kalse, Ajit Pawar camp needs the support of at least 36 MLAs to avoid disqualification.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar's supporters thronged his residence in south Mumbai on Wednesday, hours ahead of the show of strength meetings convened by him and Ajit Pawar who parted ways to become the deputy chief minister.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the Nationalist Congress Party are holding their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and in Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
Outside Silver Oak, the senior Pawar's residence in south Mumbai, a party worker was seen carrying a banner which read: '83-year-old warrior waging a fight alone'.
Supporters of Ajit Pawar also gathered outside his Devgiri official residence, also in south Mumbai, before he left to attend the meeting at Bandra.
"We are hard core Dada (as Ajit Pawar is called) supporters. We have come all the way from Baramati," an NCP worker told the media outside Devgiri.
MLA Anil Patil claimed that as many as 40 of the 53 party MLAs are with Ajit Pawar.
These are the first meetings involving party functionaries for both factions since Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs, including Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil and Hasan Mushrif, joined the Eknath Shinde government on Sunday.
Both factions have claimed that they have most MLAs with them.
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TN youth from UAE has tested negative for Mpox: Health Minister Subramanian
Chennai, Nov 2: A 27-year-old native of Thiruvarur district, who had arrived from Sharjah, has tested negative for monkey pox, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said here on Saturday.
Test results from both the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research here and the Pune-based National Institute of Virology have show negative for Mpox virus, the minister said.
Subramanian had earlier in the day told reporters that result was awaited for the sample that had been dispatched to the NIV while test result from King Institute ruled out monkey pox.
On October 31, upon his arrival at Tiruchirappalli airport from the UAE, during screening, the young man displayed fever symptoms and small skin lesions. Hence, he was taken to a government hospital.
Subramanian said the returnee had been frightened and hence left for his hometown of Valangaiman in Thiruvarur district. "This treatment is for his good and in order to prevent the spread of infection," the minister said.
Hence, he was brought back to the hospital by the authorities with police help and he has been receiving good treatment at the state-run facility. Further, Subramanian said that the test result from the government-run King Institute indicated Chickenpox and marked negative for presence of Mpox.
Screening at airports for passengers arriving from foreign countries is going on continuously in the state and international airports have dedicated isolated rooms.
Special wards are ready in government medical college hospitals, including those in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli, to provide treatment for Mpox, in case anyone tests positive for the infection, the minister added.
