Sharad Pawar dissolves almost all national departments, cells of NCP in surprise move

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar has dissolved almost all national level departments and cells of the party, barring a few, with immediate effect, a senior NCP leader said on Wednesday.

NCP national general secretary Praful Patel tweeted, "With the approval of our National President Hon'ble Shri Sharad Pawar Saheb, all the National level Departments and Cells of NCP excluding Nationalist Women's Congress, Nationalist Youth Congress and Nationalist Students Congress stand dissolved with immediate effect."

Patel, a former Union minister, did not disclose the reason for the sudden move, which comes three weeks after the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.

The NCP was a key constituent of the Shiv Sena-led coalition government which fell apart in late June following a rebellion by a section of MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray-led saffron outfit.