Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Friday, 5 May revoked his resignation from the post of party presdent after a committee of senior party leaders passed a resolution to reject it.
"My supporters and voters have been with me for so many years, so I cannot reject their sentiments. I am moved by the love and the trust in me. I am revoking my decision to retire from the post," Sharad Pawar said in a statement to the media.
Commenting on the succession plan, Pawar hinted at organisational changes to be made to the party in the near future "for the new generation to be able to succeed" and said that "successors don't get created just like that."
His nephew Ajit Pawar was absent from the media briefing.
Key highlights of his address:
My decision to quit created unrest within my supporters and loyalists. They urged me to rethink my decision.
My supporters and voters have been with me for so many years, so I cannot reject their sentiments. I am moved by the love and the trust in me.
There will be organisational changes made in the future for the new generation to be able to take over
Many leaders from the other parties including Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury urged me to continue in order to engineer Opposition unity
Ajit Pawar knew of my resignation all along, but I apologise for not taking other leaders into confidence
Every leader sitting by me is capable of running the party and successors don't need to be coronated.
I cannot stop anybody who wants to leave the party.
