Mumbai: Hours after making a shocking announcement on plans to step down as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief here on Tuesday, Sharad Pawar has agreed to think over his decision. Pacifying the party workers who marked protest against the announcement, his nephew Ajit Pawar revealed that Sharad Pawar need two to three days to rethink his decision to quit as the party chief.
Conveying his message to protesting party workers, Ajit Pawar also requested NCP functionaries not to resign from their posts in protest against Pawar senior's surprise decision.
"He (Sharad Pawar) has said he has made his decision, but he will need two-three days to think it over on account of your insistence. But he will think it over only when all workers go home," Ajit told party workers at the premises of the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan here.
Scores of Nationalist Congress Party workers refused to leave the venue, where Pawar earlier in the day announced his decision during the launch of his revised autobiography.
Apparently, annoyed by the spate of protests after his move to quit, Pawar, 83, told his senior leaders that "if they are stubborn, I am even more adamant".
He also frowned at the agitations, sit-in protests, indefinite hunger strikes, resignations of various office-bearers from across the state, people writing letters in blood, etc.
Ajit Pawar said that the party work will continue as usual and nobody's resignation shall be accepted, putting the lid on the political storm that rocked national politics since noon on Tuesday.
Sharad Pawar and other leaders again appealed to all their party workers sitting near the Y.B. Chavan Auditorium and other parts of the state to call off all their protests and go home peacefully.