Veteran politician Sharad Pawar has stepped down as the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Pawar made the big announcement at press briefing on Tuesday. His announcement was greeted by loud exclamations from the gathering.

"I am resigning from the post of the national president of NCP," said Pawar.

Sharad Pawar is the co-founder of the NCP Party. In 1999, Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar formed the NCP party after they were expelled from the Indian National Congress over some old dispute with Sonia Gandhi, the former INC president.