NCP PRESIDENT Sharad Pawar had to abruptly stop his speech as factionalism in the Madha unit of the party came to the fore on Friday. Pawar is set to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Madha constituency. Advertising The incident took place in Phaltan taluka, where Pawar had convened a meeting of party leaders. Local leaders Shekhar Gore and Kavita Mhetre as well as their followers attended the meeting. A NCP leader who were present at the meeting, said: “Kavita Mhetre was given a place to seat on the dais. The other group, affiliated to Shekhar Gore, did not approve of this. In protest, Gore refused to sit on the dais.” Following this, supporters of Mhetre and Gore started raising slogans against each other. “Amid this, Sharad Pawar started speaking. As the two camps charged each other, Pawar had to stop his speech,” the leader said. When contacted, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “It was an unfortunate development. Both Gore and Mhetre joined the NCP a couple of years ago. They are not original NCP workers who never show any disrespect to senior leaders.” Advertising “The differences within the local unit of the party is not new. But they could have raised their concerns at a proper forum. The manner in which the two sides clashed in the presence of Pawar was highly condemnable,” he added.

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