Sunil Tatkare said the NCP merger was set for February 12 before Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash. "Had he been alive, the merger of the two factions would have been completed on February 12," Tatkare told reporters on Friday. This news sparked fresh talk about a party reunion.

The possibility of a reunion between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and its rival NCP (SP) - a matter of curiosity in political circles for many months -- may have been realised sooner had Ajit Pawar been alive, senior NCP leader Sunil Tatkare has indicated. His remarks came even as deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, and a cohort of senior leaders called on on NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar at Breach Candy Hospital, where he is being treated for chest congestion.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also spoke to Sharad Pawar's daughter and NCP (SP) national working president Supriya Sule earlier for an update on his health status.

"Discussions on the merger of the two NCP factions had indeed taken place. Ajit Dada had briefed me, sharing details of the formula agreed upon for the reunification. Had he been alive, the merger of the two factions would have been completed on February 12," Tatkare told reporters outside his home in Sutarwadi, Raigad, on Friday.

"Unfortunately, his death in a plane crash brought the process to a halt," he added, pivoting from his earlier denial that any merger talks were underway. In fact, when the NCP (SP) first spoke publicly about discussions regarding a merger shortly after Ajit Pawar's death in January, Tatkare dismissed the claims, arguing that he and other senior leaders would have been aware of such talks since Ajit Pawar would have kept them up to speed.

Tatkare's statement on Friday assumes significance on the back of the party's national working president, Praful Patel, meeting Sharad Pawar at the hospital on Thursday night, when he is learnt to have asked Patel about what had transpired at the NCP leaders' meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday.

When reporters asked him about the meeting, Patel made light of it saying, "Saheb, in his own style, laughingly asked what is going on in politics." People in the know of things, however, said that Sharad Pawar and Patel have decided to meet on November 10, further fuelling speculation of a merger.

Six top veteran leaders met Shah on Sunday evening in the absence of party president Sunetra Pawar and her elder son, Parth Pawar. Parth has reportedly ruffled feathers by assuming control of the organisation since his mother took over the reins, leading to an internal rift within the NCP.

During their meeting with Shah on Sunday evening, the six NCP leaders, including Patel and Tatkare, reportedly indicated their willingness for the merger with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), objecting to the mother-son duo's resistance towards the move. Both Sunetra and Parth had voiced their opposition towards the reunification a week ago at a meeting with Shah in Delhi.

Subsequently, on Wednesday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Sharad Pawar to enquire about his health, he assured the veteran leader that his daughter, Baramati MP Supriya Sule, was ready to take care of the country along with him, and urging the latter to rest, according to Vitthal Maniyar, a close friend of Pawar.

Endorsing Tatkare's statement, Maharashtra NCP (SP) chief Shashikant Shinde told reporters in Navi Mumbai that if the two NCP factions had reunited, the results of the recently held legislative council elections would have been different. "It was Ajit Dada's wish, and a muhurat had also been decided for the reunification.

Unfortunately, it did not materialise as the other side refused," Shinde told reporters in Navi Mumbai on Friday. He added: "Ajit Dada felt if both factions had reunited, the party would have emerged much stronger under the leadership of (Sharad) Pawar Saheb and him. Moreover, the outcome of the recently held legislative council elections for five seats could have been different. We are saddened that it did not happen."

Other leaders who dropped by to meet Sharad Pawar at the hospital on Friday are NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat and Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam.