Mumbai, May 17 (PTI) Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday praised his uncle and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in 1992 that provided 33 per cent quota to women in local bodies.
"Saheb (Sharad Pawar) was chief minister at the time and it was my first term as MLA. He said the House should not be adjourned till the bill is passed. We passed the bill after debate at 3:30am," the deputy CM said at an event in Pune.
The praise comes amid political buzz of a rapprochement between the factions headed by the two Pawars.
The Nationalist Congress Party split in July 2023 after Ajit Pawar joined the then Eknath Shinde government. The Election Commission later gave the NCP name and clock symbol to the faction led by the Deputy CM, while the one under Sharad Pawar was christened NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Both factions have called the rapprochement talk as guesswork.