Bowing to the demand of the party’s rank and file, veteran leader Sharad Pawar on Friday announced that he has withdrawn his decision to step down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Pawar’s announcement came hours after a high-powered committee of the party he had set up on Tuesday after his decision to quit rejected his resignation and also made an appeal to him to continue in the post.

Addressing a media conference in Mumbai on Friday, Pawar, 83, informed about his decision and said, “Because of your love and respect I am taking back my decision to step down as party chief.” “I can’t disrespect your sentiments. Due to your love, I am respecting the demand that was made to me to withdraw my resignation and the resolution that was passed by senior NCP leaders. I withdraw my decision to step down as the national president of Nationalist Congress Party,” said Pawar.

“After my 63 years of public life, I felt I was relieved from my post, but after this, there was a strong reaction from the workers of NCP, the public living with me along with numerous workers and office bearers, expressed sadness over this decision and urged me to reconsider,” he added further.

Rejecting Sharad Pawar’s decision to resign as party chief, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday passed a resolution, requesting the veteran politician to continue to lead the organisation that he founded 24 years ago.

The decision was taken at the party’s core committee meeting held in Mumbai this morning to take a call on Pawar’s sudden decision to step down from the post three days back.

The 18-member committee that met on Friday included senior leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, KK Sharma, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Supriya Sule, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaidev Gaikwad and Narhari Jhirwal.

Meanwhile, outside the meeting venue, NCP workers raised slogans in support of Sharad Pawar, making an appeal to him to reconsider his decision. Many of them felt that the decision by Pawar to resign at a time when the Opposition parties are gearing up to form a united front against the BJP will only help the saffron outfit ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Pawar, while announcing his resignation on Tuesday, had formed a committee to decide on his successor. “The committee has unanimously passed a resolution. It rejects his decision to step down and urges him to continue as party president,” senior leader Praful Patel said after the high-powered panel’s meeting.

Patel added that many top leaders of the country in the past few days have reached out to Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule and even him and expressed their sentiments. “We have seen the sentiments of the cadre from across districts. Everyone has expressed the opinion that he shouldn’t be stepping down (as party chief),” he said.