
Sharad Pawar, a senior political figure in India, said on Tuesday (May 2) that he will step down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). But Pawar further added that he is not retiring from public life as a party worker and leaders demanded him to withdraw the decision.
Pawar, a four-time chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, also announced a panel of senior party leaders to outline a future course of action. He has served as the union defence and agriculture minister.
"I am resigning from the post of the national president of NCP," Pawar said at a press briefing, news agency PTI reported. The announcement received loud reactions from the gathering. Pawar was speaking at a book launch of his autobiography at the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratisthan.
He was a vital cog in bringing together an unlikely coalition of the NCP, Congress and then the ideologically opposite Shiv Sena to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government after the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
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