NCP office in Vidhan Bhavan belongs to us: Sharad Pawar faction leader Anil Deshmukh

Nagpur: Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party leader Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said the NCP office in Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature in Nagpur, belongs to his faction and not to the Ajit Pawar-led group.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature here, the former Maharashtra home minister also targeted the Ajit Pawar faction saying those who left the NCP should request the assembly speaker to arrange a separate office for them in the Vidhan Bhavan.

The winter session is scheduled to be held between December 7 and 20.

The NCP split on July 2 after Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs of the party joined the government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. Since then, both factions of the NCP have laid claim to the party name and symbol and have petitioned the speaker seeking disqualification of those owing allegiance to the other side.

Replying to a question on who will have the NCP office in Vidhan Bhavan as Ajit Pawar-led faction leader Dharmarao Baba Atram claimed that the office belongs to his side, Deshmukh said, "The party office will be ours only as some people left our party and moved out. The party office will remain with us only and those who stepped out of our party should request the speaker to arrange something for them."

"It is already our office and there is no question of us requesting it because some of our people left us," he added.