There are growing calls for NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to take an immediate decision on the fate of party MLA and Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate and youth wing president Suraj Chavan. The party has already asked the latter to resign from the post.

On Sunday, Chavan, along with other NCP workers, beat up Chhava Sanghatna activists, who had confronted Maharashtra NCP state unit president Sunil Tatkare by hurling a deck of playing cards in front of his table during a conference in Latur. The activists were protesting against Kokate allegedly playing a rummy game on his phone while the state legislature was in session.

Before the situation could get out of hand, a day later, Pawar, taking to the micro-blogging site X, asked Chavan to immediately resign from his post. “His [Chavan’s] behaviour goes against the party’s values. No such behaviour will be tolerated,” Pawar posted.