Can’t use Sharad Pawar’s pics: SC to Team Ajit

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response of the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on a plea of the Sharad Pawar group alleging misuse of his name and pictures for political gains.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan asked the Ajit Pawar faction to file its response by Saturday to Sharad Pawar’s plea and fixed it for further hearing on March 19. “We need a categorical and unconditional undertaking that the name, pictures of Sharad Pawar will not be used,” the bench said. Earlier, the top court had directed that the Election Commission’s order of February 7 allotting ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ as the party name for the Sharad Pawar faction will continue till further orders. It had also sought response of the Ajit Pawar-led faction on a plea of Sharad Pawar against the February 6 order of the Election Commission recognising the Maharashtra deputy chief minister-led group as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Ajit Pawar said that although following a split his party initially used the name and photos of his uncle Sharad Pawar, after the latter’s objection, it started using state’s first chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan’s name and pictures.

Talking to reporters in his hometown Baramati in Pune district, Ajit Pawar said after he aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, his party started using the name and images of Sharad Pawar. “But after he (Sharad Pawar) objected to the use of his photos and name, and warned of action, we stopped using his name and photos. We are now using the photos of Yashwantrao Chavan, a cultured leader, and going to people,” he said.