Mumbai/IBNS: Maharashtra strongman and four time chief minister Sharad Pawar Tuesday announced that he has stepped down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

While he said he is not retiring from public life, his successor has not yet been named. Pawar, who was formerly a senior and powerful Congress leader from Maharashtra, formed the  Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999.

He made the announcement accompanied by his nephew Ajit Pawar at an event of his autobiography's launch in Mumbai. There are already many political speculations around Ajit Pawar who in 2019 had even taken oath as a deputy CM in a BJP led government (after falling out with Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena) that later failed to prove its majority.  There are speculations of Ajit going to the BJP even now.

"I cannot forget that Maharashtra and all of you have given me strong support and love in the last six decades. It's time for a new generation to guide the party and the direction it intends to take. I am recommending that a committee of NCP members should be formed to decide on the election of the vacancy in the president's post,"  Pawar said in his speech in Marathi as quoted by NDTV.

He said he has three more years in Rajya Sabha, but he will not contest elections in future.

"I will concentrate more on issues concerning the state and the country. I will not take any additional responsibilities... One must not be greedy," he said, quoted India Today.

Sharad Pawar's politician daughter Supriya Sule had earlier hinted of "two big political explosions".