Aditi Tatkare cuts Nandurbar tour short amid NCP merger talk, heads to Mumbai

Talk of a merger between the Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the Nationalist Congress Party has gathered pace again in state politics. Senior leaders of the two parties are holding discussions and meetings, and leaders on both sides are briefing their respective party high commands and deciding the next steps.

Amid this, the Nandurbar tour of state Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare was suddenly changed.

It is being said that calls about the merger are going out to NCP legislators from the office of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar. Tatkare, who was visiting Nandurbar district, had been due to stay there all day and leave for Mumbai late at night. Under the revised programme, she will leave Nandurbar for Jalgaon at 4 pm and fly from there to Mumbai. Her decision to leave the tour midway and go to Mumbai has again fuelled political speculation.

Tatkare responded on the merger meeting. She said she had not been invited to the meeting on the merger to be held in Pune and had received no call about it. She said that for now she was focusing on the department she heads rather than on political developments.

Asked why Sunil Tatkare was being cast as the villain in the merger matter, she said that as his daughter she always feels the misfortune of it. She said Sunil Tatkare's friendship with Ajit Dada goes back to their time together in the Congress, and that as a friend he has fulfilled all his duties. She said criticism keeps coming, and without paying much attention to it, Sunil Tatkare is carrying out his responsibility as state party president, towards Dada's family and as a friend.

Tatkare also said Sharad Pawar, Sunetra Pawar, Supriya Sule and senior leaders of both parties would take the right decision on the merger. She said whatever decision Sunetra Pawar takes would be acceptable to her, and the merger decision would be acceptable to her as well.

On the question of naming the Ladki Bahin scheme after Ajit Dada, she said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sunetra Pawar and Eknath Shinde would take an appropriate decision. She said it was Shinde who raised the Ladki Bahin benefit from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500. In her words, along with the ladki bahins, the state now has "ladle bhai" (beloved brothers) too.

Tatkare said senior leaders of her party have made a demand to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Fadnavis regarding a conference of the finance department. She said all NCP workers wish for a positive decision on it. In her view, care should be taken that no bitterness enters the Mahayuti. Saying that responsibility is not carried by one side alone, she replied to Ramdas Kadam.