Two months after Ajit Pawar’s dying, the talks of NCP reunification have resurfaced, however the many inner-party tussles make it a difficult prospect.
As soon as once more, talks of the merger of the Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar factions of the Nationalist Congress Get together (NCP) have resurfaced in Maharashtra. This time it’s the results of a press release from Sunil Shelke, the Maval (Pune) MLA from the Ajit Pawar faction. Chatting with mediapersons within the final week of March, he stated: “If the occasion is getting greater underneath the management of Sunetra Pawar, if her management is appropriate to all, then the merger of each factions is a matter of pleasure for us.”
Apparently, merger talks had been reportedly held between each factions a couple of months in the past, however after Ajit Pawar’s sudden dying in a airplane crash in late January this 12 months, leaders from his faction denied having held any such talks. Now, it’s they who’ve raked up the problem once more.
Shelke’s assertion is an fascinating political transfer as he has straight positioned a situation earlier than the opposite faction to simply accept the management of Sunetra Pawar, Ajit Pawar’s widow. When Ajit was alive, his spouse was solely a Rajya Sabha member, however after his dying, she rapidly grew to become Deputy Chief Minister in addition to the nationwide president of NCP (Ajit Pawar).
Frontline was the primary to report intimately in regards to the merger talks that had been occurring for nearly one 12 months when Ajit’s sudden dying modified the dynamics.
Household politics
The 2023 cut up within the NCP is partly attributed to the tussle for energy between three members of the Pawar household. Ajit needed full management of the occasion based by his uncle Sharad Pawar. Nonetheless, Supriya Sule, Sharad’s daughter, was additionally a contender for the highest publish. The third angle of this energy triangle was Rohit Pawar, Sharad’s grand-nephew, who grew to become MLA for the primary time in 2019. Since then, this bold younger Pawar has toured the State and tried to ascertain his model.
The competitors between these three Pawars is held partly answerable for the cut up, after which Ajit joined the BJP-led authorities. Almost three-fourths of the undivided occasion’s MLAs joined his faction. This was alongside anticipated traces as a result of the district satraps, who had at all times helped preserve Sharad Pawar’s maintain on energy, aligned with the occasion that held energy.
Through the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Sunetra contested towards Supriya in Baramati, a household bastion for 4 many years. Supriya received the election, which shocked Ajit. Additionally, the Sharad Pawar faction received a complete of eight seats, whereas the Ajit faction may handle just one.
Ajit positive aspects higher hand
Nonetheless, inside 4 months, Ajit bounced again into the reckoning because the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance returned to energy within the State and he was made Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister. The Sharad Pawar faction may win solely 10 seats within the Meeting election as towards the Ajit faction’s 41.
With this, Ajit gained the higher hand in Pawar household politics. Though Ajit Pawar was at all times seen as a powerful and shrewd politician, he was a really emotional individual too. He had super respect for Sharad Pawar, who had guided him after Ajit’s father handed away when he was solely 18. He was at all times seen as a pure inheritor to Sharad Pawar’s political empire. Realisation of this lastly dawned on the household and talks of a re-merger began inside 4 months of the Mahayuti returning to energy.
NCP supporters pay tribute to Ajit Pawar, in Mumbai on January 29, 2026.
| Picture Credit score:
PTI
Ajit took the initiative and needed to finish the merger on the earliest, particularly given the deteriorating well being of the 85-year-old Sharad Pawar and his mom Ashatai Pawar. Ajit’s management was additionally acceptable to each Supriya and Rohit. Consolidation of energy was important for the Pawar household, and the merger was key to it, particularly after the BJP introduced it will contest the 2029 Meeting election alone.
Ajit Pawar’s sudden dying in a airplane crash on January 28 got here as a shock to everybody. It was a private in addition to political loss. The Sharad Pawar faction was already contesting the zilla parishad elections in Satara and Pune and in another districts on Ajit’s image. The unique plan was to announce the merger instantly after the elections, so with Ajit no extra, leaders from the Sharad Pawar faction rushed to provide statements about having mentioned and finalised merger plans throughout conferences with Ajit Pawar.
Resentment between factions
A number of MLAs from Ajit’s faction resented this, as they noticed it as an try by the opposite faction to take management instantly. Most of those MLAs hail from rural areas and their type of politics doesn’t sit properly with Supriya; it was Ajit who was their pure chief. Feeling threatened by the potential for a merger and Supriya taking up the united occasion, they prevailed upon Sunetra Pawar to maneuver rapidly. The swearing-in ceremony was the consequence.
Sunetra was prepared to go alongside as a result of she understood the delicacy of the scenario and he or she too needed management of her husband’s occasion. It has been two months since Ajit Pawar’s dying, however Sunetra has but to say something in regards to the merger talks.
Ajit Pawar’s sudden dying in a chartered airplane crash has given rise to a number of conspiracy theories among the many public in Maharashtra. Quickly after the incident, Rohit Pawar started elevating questions in regards to the firm that owned the chartered airplane. He additionally raised questions in regards to the pilot, the aviation authorities, and a few key occasions previous to Ajit’s dying. He has succeeded in capturing the general public creativeness previously two months, particularly as a result of the individuals need somebody to lift questions, and Ajit’s sons Parth and Jay aren’t pursuing the matter vigorously.
An bold third era
It have to be famous that the third era of the Pawar household can be competing for the spoils of energy. Parth is bold; he has at all times needed to be an MP and contested the Lok Sabha election from Maval constituency in 2019 however misplaced by a giant margin. Rohit contested within the 2019 meeting election, comparably within the a comparably robust seat of Karjat Jamkhed in neighboring Ahilya Nagar district, and received in 2019 defeating a Cupboard Minister. He received once more in 2024. Rohit is seen as a younger chief who is able to struggle on the streets and tackle the mighty BJP publicly.
If the merger had taken place when Ajit was nonetheless alive, Rohit would have accepted his management. But when a merger occurs now, the query of who will lead the occasion and the place Rohit and Parth will determine in a united NCP will stay open. Will the cousins restrain their ambition of changing into unbiased leaders? Will Rohit settle for Parth or vice versa?
Additionally, in such a case, will Sunil Shelke’s proposal to simply accept Sunetra Pawar as chief of a united NCP be is appropriate to bold younger Turks like Rohit Pawar? With the query of management prone to develop into a critical level of contestation between Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar on one stage and Rohit Pawar and Parth Pawar on one other, any merger plans will unlikely be fruitful and desired consolidation of energy will nonetheless appear to be a distant objective at this level.
Simply because the dynamics inside the Pawar household have modified after Ajit Pawar’s dying, issues have modified in State politics too. Sources knowledgeable Frontline that in case the merger had gone by means of, Sharad Pawar had deliberate to go to the Rajya Sabha as an unbiased MP. However when merger talks failed and Sunetra Pawar didn’t reply to the merger calls from leaders within the Sharad Pawar faction, the Pawar patriarch had no selection however to return to the opposition fold. Supriya Sule met the Congress management in addition to Uddhav Thackeray to realize their help for Sharad Pawar’s Rajya Sabha bid. With each suspicious whether or not Supriya’s occasion would proceed to stick with the opposition alliance, her occasion’s senior chief Jayant Patil needed to publicly make clear that there was no probability of a merger after Ajit Pawar’s dying. “Our talks had been occurring with Ajit dada. Now he isn’t there, so the merger concern is sidelined. We’ll proceed to be a part of MVA,” he stated.
Not simply Jayant Patil, even Supriya herself introduced in a press convention in New Delhi, “As Ajit dada just isn’t there, nothing of the merger is left.” It was primarily based on these statements that the alliance companions backed Sharad Pawar for his Rajya Sabha time period.
Rumbles in Sunetra camp
In the meantime, all just isn’t properly within the Sunetra Pawar camp both. There are reviews of a number of clashes on numerous points between her and Praful Patel, the occasion’s working president, in addition to with Sunil Tatkare, the occasion MP. The most recent of those is over the occasion structure submitted to the Election Fee of India (ECI).
On December 8, 2025, the ECI had requested the occasion to submit a replica of its structure, to which the occasion sought extra time. The ECI despatched a reminder on February 12, so the occasion submitted an amended structure adopted after breaking away from Sharad Pawar’s NCP. This occurred on February 16 and was signed by Praful Patel as nationwide working president.
Sunetra was elected because the occasion’s nationwide president on February 26. On March 10, she wrote a letter to the ECI with a listing of nationwide workplace bearers, through which Praful is talked about solely as a member and never as nationwide working president.
Sunetra has additionally requested the ECI to think about all communication dated between January 28 (the date of Ajit Pawar’s dying) and March 10 as “null and ignored for all official functions”. This reportedly shocked each Patel and Tatkare, who met Sunetra Pawar to make clear their place.
As this goes to press, such petty fights inside each factions and tussles for management and management at numerous ranges proceed. In the event that they proceed, they are going to make any NCP merger story unlikely within the close to future a minimum of.
Additionally Learn | Was the NCP merger an actual plan? The way it was constructed and why it appears stalled
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