NCP MLA sits on token hunger strike against Maharashtra govt's decision to recruit staff on contract basis

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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Rohit Pawar, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led faction, and other leaders of his party sat on a token hunger strike here on Wednesday to protest against the Maharashtra government's decision to recruit staff on a contract basis in its departments, reported the PTI.

Rohit Pawar, who represents the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in neighbouring Ahmednagar district, NCP's Pune city unit president Prashant Jagtap (Sharad Pawar faction) and other leaders in the city took part in the hunger strike at Mahatma Phule Wada in Ganj Peth area.

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"We are holding a one-day symbolic hunger strike here to protest the contractual recruitment being done by the state government in its various departments," Rohit Pawar said, as per the PTI.

"Through this recruitment drive, more than 75,000 posts will be filled and the candidates will be recruited on lower wages. So after the deduction of their Provident Fund (PF), they will get a meagre salary. In this process of contractual recruitment, the contractor (who will provide the manpower) will get richer," he alleged, according to the PTI.

The NCP leader also demanded that a law be brought on the lines of the Rajasthan government's legislation to deal with incidents of exam paper leak.

Referring to the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of 'talathis', Rohit Pawar said that if there is any malpractice has taken place, then an independent committee should be formed to probe.

"If the state government does not take a decision in favour of youth in the state in the coming days, the NCP will intensify their agitation," he said.

Meanwhile, Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders from both Sharad Pawar- and Ajit Pawar-led factions of the NCP on Tuesday said there was no split in the party, according to the PTI.

The Election Commission has called the rival factions of the NCP for a personal hearing on October 6 following a petition filed by the Ajit group claiming that he has been elected as the party's national president.

"It is unfair on the part of the Election Commission of India to treat our case as a dispute within a political party when we have consistently maintained that there is no split," said Jayant Patil, the Maharashtra unit chief of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, reported the PTI.

(with PTI inputs)