Sachin Ahir 'stained' ideologies of Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar: NCP

Mumbai: Stepping up attack on its former leader Sachin Ahir a day after he joined the Shiv Sena, the NCP on Friday urged people following Mahatma Phule-Shahu Maharaj-B R Ambedkar's ideologies to not cooperate with the "betrayer". The Sharad Pawar-led party said Ahir, who headed the NCP's Mumbai unit, rose in politics due to support from people adhering to ideals of these legendary social reformers.

"We condemn Sachin Ahir who stained the ideologies of Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar by defecting from the NCP," Sunil Shinde, head of Mumbai unit of NCP's social justice department, said in a statement here. Shinde said Ahir became the MLA from Worli in Mumbai and rose to the rank of a minister in Maharashtra due to the people following the ideologies of the troika of the great leaders and asked the public not to cooperate with him.

"No co-operation should be extended to Ahir who has betrayed (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar Saheb who had reposed trust in the former for Mumbai's development...the betrayer should not be cooperated with," Shinde added. Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Ahir (47), who headed the NCP's Mumbai unit for five years, joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of its president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday. Soon after joining the Sena, Ahir had announced that he would contest the upcoming Assembly election from Byculla in south Mumbai.