Cracking the whip, NCP chief Sharad Pawar removed the district unit president Bala Bhise for defying the party diktat to campaign for Congress candidate from Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri constituency Nilesh Rane and put sitting MLA Deepak Kesarkar on notice.
Pawar announced his decision to replace Bhise with Victor Danteus at a rally held in Sawantwadi in the district in support of Nilesh, the sitting MP and son of state Industries Minister Narayan Rane.
"If anybody thinks the organisation revolves around him then he is wrong. If an alliance is formed, one will have to work for it. The perception that whole organisation will revolve around one person will not work in the NCP," Pawar said.
Nilesh is pitted against Shiv Sena's Vinayak Raut.
Pawar also assured the gathering that action would be taken against his party MLA Kesarkar who had defied the party orders to campaign for Nilesh.
Interestingly, no party worker from NCP attended the rally.
Pawar and nephew Ajit Pawar had tried to broker a truce but faced an embarrassment when the Sawantwadi legislator along with the local party cadres refused to campaign for Nilesh.