NEW DELHI: Efforts to reunite the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions appear to have hit a roadblock, with differences over leadership, organisational control and future political alignment complicating the proposed merger.
While senior leaders have renewed contact with Sharad Pawar, Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth Pawar are understood to be reluctant about an immediate reunification. This raises questions over the future of the party and who would control it if the two factions came together.
The renewed merger speculation follows a series of meetings at Silver Oak, the Mumbai residence of Sharad Pawar, involving leaders from both factions. Parth Pawar, son of late Ajit Pawar and a Rajya Sabha MP, met his grandfather twice in two consecutive days. Both meetings reportedly lasted close to two hours.
NCP (SP) Maharashtra president Shashikant Shinde also met Sharad Pawar twice, while senior leaders from the Sharad Pawar faction, including Jayant Patil, Amol Kolhe, Anil Deshmukh and Jitendra Awhad, held a separate meeting with him that lasted nearly three hours. Rohit Pawar also met his granduncle.
The meetings have fuelled speculation that efforts are underway to revive the merger proposal that Ajit Pawar had pursued during his lifetime. Several leaders involved in the recent interactions were also part of the earlier negotiations between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Jayant Patil, in particular, had played an important role in those discussions.
However, there is no apparent consensus within the Sunetra Pawar-led faction on taking the proposal forward. The question has increasingly shifted from whether the two factions should reunite to who would lead the merged organisation, how its organisational structure would be determined and which political alliance it would support.
The changing statements by NCP state president Sunil Tatkare have added another dimension to the merger debate.
Initially, Tatkare acknowledged that discussions between the two factions had taken place and that Ajit Pawar had explained the framework and vision for the proposed reunification. He also indicated that February 12 had been identified as the date for the merger.
“Had Ajit Dada been alive, the merger of the two factions would have been completed on February 12,” Tatkare said.
In a separate statement, Tatkare said Ajit Pawar had personally explained how the merger would unfold and that the process had been halted following his sudden death. He added that discussions on the subject had continued even after Ajit Pawar’s death.
However, within three days of his initial remarks, Tatkare appeared to distance himself from any suggestion that a merger decision had already been taken. He said the final call would rest with Sunetra Pawar and Sharad Pawar.
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