NCP leaders meet Amit Shah, explore merger excluding Sunetra, Parth Pawar

NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction leaders – Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sameer Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil – met Shah at his official residence on Monday morning, sources said. A core committee meeting of the party is expected to take place in Mumbai today afternoon.

However, NCP national spokesperson Umesh Patil said it was unfortunate that “political colour is being added to Monday’s meeting”. “It is an attempt to fabricate a narrative of internal party differences. It appears that certain unseen forces are planting such reports to create an artificial narrative that there is a lack of coordination in the leadership. This is purely malicious,” he added.

The Monday morning meeting took place against the backdrop of another meeting that Sunetra and Parth had with Shah last week, where they pitched Parth as the point person of the merged NCP with the NDA, sources said. “The Sharad Pawar faction is not likely to agree with such a suggestion,” said a source.

According to BJP sources, by holding the meeting with Shah on Monday, this section wanted to show that key leaders in the Ajit Pawar faction are still together, but not in agreement with Sunetra and Parth.

Denying the claim, Patil said the meeting took place after Sunetra in her last meeting with Shah said that a delegation of senior leaders from the party would be meeting him and had requested time for the same.

According to sources in the NCP (Sharad Pawar) group, no decision on merger or joining the NDA has been taken so far.

With the BJP keen on getting the NCP as a single unit in the NDA alliance, its leadership had offered two Union Cabinet berths to balance power equations on both the factions. BJP sources maintained that if the NCP is retained as a separate entity, it could help the coalition consolidate non-Brahmin and Maratha votes in Maharashtra.

The BJP is already facing criticism from its cadre and traditional leaders on the ground over the leadership ostensibly “sidelining” the “organic party leaders” while sharing power. Sources said the top leadership wants to be cautious about not weakening BJP’s allies.

BJP sources pointed out that a “hurdle” in carrying forward its merger plans is the “ambitions” of certain leaders. They pointed out that Parth, a Rajya Sabha MP, wants his mother to hold the finance portfolio in the Maharashtra government, a post his father, the late Ajit Pawar, held in the Devendra Fadnavis government. He is also learnt to have expressed his desire to be the NCP national president. However, senior leaders such as NCP state president Sunil Tatkare, working president Praful Patel, and Chhagan Bhujbal want the power sharing to be more inclusive.

Umesh Patil, chief spokesperson of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) said the leaders held “discussions on various issues concerning the party following the unfortunate demise of Late Shri Ajitdada Pawar.” He said in a post on X: “ These senior leaders have in-depth knowledge of some important matters from late Ajitdada’s tenure, issues concerning the interests of the state, and various matters related to the party. In that context, today’s meeting was a pre-planned, formal one.” Patil said it was “unfortunate that an attempt is being made to give an unnecessary political colour” to the meeting.