Ajit Pawar’s death: NCP leaders meet CM Fadnavis amid uncertainty over party’s future
Mumbai (PTI): Senior NCP leaders on Friday met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here, amid uncertainty over the party’s future following the death of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in a plane crash.
The meeting at the CM’s official residence Varsha in south Mumbai, which lasted nearly one and a half hours, was attended by senior NCP leaders, including Chhagan Bhujbal, national working president Praful Patel, state president Sunil Tatkare and former minister Dhananjay Munde, sources said.
According to the sources in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the leaders met Fadnavis to deliberate on the political situation in the state and the way forward for the party after Pawar’s sudden demise.
However, it was not immediately clear what transpired during the discussions, and there was no official statement from either side after the meeting.
The NCP, which Pawar headed, the BJP and Shiv Sena are the constituents of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the state.
NCP minister Narhari Zirwal on Thursday had publicly expressed his wish that Ajit Pawar’s wife and Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar be appointed as the deputy chief minister. There has been no official comment from the CM's Office in this regard so far.
According to a close associate of Pawar, he was keen on the merger of the two factions of the NCP and that it was about to happen soon.
Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when the chartered plane carrying them crashed in Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday. The 66-year-old NCP chief, popularly known as 'Dada' (elder brother), was cremated with full state honours in Baramati on Thursday.
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Four-year-old girl killed in leopard attack in UP's Bahraich village
Bahraich (UP) (PTI): A four-year-old girl was killed in a leopard attack in a village under the Katarniaghat Wildlife Division in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district, officials said on Friday.
According to villagers, Anushka (4), daughter of Manoj, a resident of Mukhia Farm village under Rampurwa gram panchayat in the Nishangarha Range, was playing in the courtyard outside her house when a leopard emerged from a nearby sugarcane field and dragged her away in its jaws on Thursday evening.
Family members and villagers chased the animal after raising an alarm, following which the leopard dropped the child about 50 metres from the house and fled into the bushes near a canal, they said.
The injured girl was rushed to a hospital but she died on the way. A family member said injury marks were visible on her neck and nose.
Nishangarha Range Officer Surendra Srivastava said the girl died due to the leopard attack. A forest department team inspected the spot late at night.
He said the department provided Rs 10,000 as immediate financial assistance to the bereaved family for the last rites. Patrolling has been intensified in the area, with four teams deployed for continuous monitoring and villagers being sensitised.
Police have sent the body for post-mortem examination.
