The Ajit Pawar faction was left red-faced on Tuesday as the keys to their new office reportedly went missing.
Ajit Pawar was scheduled to inaugurate a new party office near the state secretariat. However, when his loyalists arrived at the newly constructed 'Rashtrawadi Bhavan' this morning, they discovered that they were locked out and the keys were nowhere to be found, reports said.
According to NDTV, party leaders were seen sitting on chairs outside the locked doors as calls were made to track down the keys at the earliest. Later, visuals showed youth leaders trying to break down a lock so that they can enter the bungalow and prep it for inauguration by Ajit Pawar later in the day. Once inside, they faced a new problem: the doors of the rooms inside were locked too.
The bungalow chosen by Ajit Pawar for the party office earlier belonged to Ambadas Danve, Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council and a loyalist of Uddhav Thackeray. Mr Danve has now been allotted another bungalow, the report said.
NCP leader Appa Sawant told NDTV that the personal assistant of Mr Danve slept at the bungalow. "We have made all arrangements inside, but the PA locked up and left. We have called him. He said he is on his way to Mantralaya and will hand over the keys to us," said Mr Sawant, the vice-president of NCP's Mumbai wing. The NCP leader also alleged a conspiracy behind this.