- Sharad Pawar expels Prafull Patel-Sunil Tatkare, notices to 9 MLAs including Ajith

- Shock on the second day of Ajith's coup: MP Kolhe and four MLAs return to the Sharad faction

- As a countermeasure, the Ajit group sent a letter to the Speaker to disqualify state president Jayant Patil and new leader of opposition Jitendra Awad.

Mumbai: The Sharad Pawar group has started a legal battle, a day after Ajit Pawar's coup. The party's working president Prafull Patel and party minister and MP Sunil Tatkare were expelled today by the Sharad group. Sharad Pawar ordered the exclusion of Prafulla Patel from the Rajya Sabha and Sunil Tatkare from the list of NCP parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha. On the other hand, the party sent notices to Ajit Pawar and the eight MLAs of the party who took oath with him and raised the demand of disqualifying them as MLAs. On the other hand, the Ajit group as a countermeasure sent a letter to the Speaker to disqualify Jitendra Awad, who was declared the new opposition leader by the state president Jayant Patil and the Sharad group. The Ajit group also said that the organization is with them, so Jayant Patil is no longer the state president and there is no point in taking any action by him.

Sharad Pawar said that he has asked Prafull Patel and Sunil Tatkare to be expelled from the party immediately. Despite holding important positions in the organization of both the parties, they have misbehaved and hence direct expulsion action has been taken against them. As mentioned in the letter sent by Sharad Pawar, his party will also initiate proceedings against these two MPs under the Anti-Defection Act as per the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. He has also asked these two MPs not to represent NCP in any forum. According to Pawar, these two MPs have taken this step by supporting the rebellion of Ajit Pawar and other MLAs.

On the other hand, nine MLAs including Ajit Pawar were also served a notice by the Sharad Pawar faction against representing the NCP in any forum. State President Jayant Patil said that the Assembly Speaker has also been told to take action against these MLAs under the Anti-Defection Act. He said that a meeting of the party's disciplinary committee was held on Sunday and action was taken against these nine MLAs.

Yesterday, besides Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Meshe Patil, Hasan Musharif, Adit Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Sanjay Bansode, Anil Patil, Dharmarao Atrara were sworn in as ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government headed by Eknath Shinde. After taking oath, Ajit Pawar said that he has taken oath as the leader of NCP and now NCP has joined this government. Regarding his claim, he has been served a notice by the Sharad faction not to call himself an NCP MLA at any forum.

Speaker Rahul Narvekar admitted that he had received a letter demanding action against MLAs including Ajit Pawar. He will reduce it in due course. On the other hand, Ajit Pawar said today that the entire organization is with us. We have appointed Sunil Tatkare as our new Region President. Jayant Patil is no longer the state president. Hence, no such letter by him means anything.

The Ajit group as a countermeasure wrote to the Assembly Speaker demanding disqualification of Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awad. Ajit Pawar said that the party only sends names for the appointment of the leader of the opposition, while the appointment has to be done by the speaker of the assembly. Hence, Jitendra Awad cannot call himself or behave as an opposition leader at present.

On the second day of rebellion in NCP, MP Amol Kolhe and four other MLAs Dilip Mohit and Makrand Patil were defected from Ajit Pawar's camp.

Amol Kolhe claimed that I had gone to Raj Bhavan for another purpose. I met Ajit Pawar when I heard that he had come there. I did not know then that his oath ceremony was going to take place. I sat in the Amasto program but I did not join them. I am with Sharad Pawar. He is like my father.

MLAs Makarand Patil, Shashikant Shinde and Atul Benke, who appeared during Ajit Pawar's swearing-in, also appeared later along with Sharad Pawar. Apart from this, MLA Dilip Mohit also returned to Sharad camp.

According to Ajit Pawar's claim, most of the 53 MLAs are with him. According to BJP's claim, 40 MLAs are with Ajith. However, Ajith gave a letter of support to 30 MLAs in the Raj Bhavan yesterday. He needs the support of 36 MLAs to avoid action under the Anti-Defection Act. However, political sources say that when Eknath Shinde defected from the Shiv Sena, the number of MLAs who reached Surat with him was small. But, after he reached Guwahati, new MLAs were added to his camp every day. The same case can be repeated in NCP.