In a fresh shock to the beleaguered Nationalist Congress Party, former two-time Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday quit as MLA from Baramati, party sources said here. No reason is given for the abrupt step by Pawar who was named along with his uncle and NCP President Sharad Pawar, besides other political leaders and officials by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the alleged Rs 25,000-crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank Ltd. scam on Sep. 24.

Senior #NCP leader and former Deputy CM #AjitPawar quits as legislator

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— IANS Tweets (@ians_india) September 27, 2019

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade confirmed that Ajit Pawar had submitted his resignation as a legislator and it has been accepted. Ajit Pawar personally visited the Speaker's office and submitted his resignation to the Speaker's aide. "He later also sent his resignation by email to me this afternoon and then called me up with a request that it should be accepted. I did not ask for the reasons. As requested, I have accepted the resignation," Bagade informed the media.