Supriya Sule on NCP merger talk: With brother gone, what is there to discuss

Speculation is rife over a merger of the two NCP factions. Claims have been made that senior leaders are holding meetings on it. It was also said that the Sharad Pawar faction would join the NDA directly, and that Praful Patel and Supriya Sule spoke for 35 minutes in the Parliament complex. MP Supriya Sule addressed all this openly at a press conference in Mumbai.

Sule said speculation is a daily affair in politics, but asked how breaking news could build any suspense. She narrated, in a lighter vein, her experience that morning. She goes jogging at seven and by quarter past eight all the cameramen are ready. When she was asked about the news, she told them to ask Saheb's PA. Three or four editors then called her in a panic. She said she had not called this press conference in haste.

"I say even today, please do not keep asking the same question again and again. You will bring down your TRP and mine too. I do not want to bring down my TRP. I am tired of this subject," Sule said. She mentioned rising prices, climbing oil prices, the change of administration in the United States and its effect on the world. The Centre is bringing major bills and the issue of One Nation One Election is under way. Sule said she would be happy to take questions on these, but she would no longer answer on the merger.

She said that not just she but all the leaders of her party had spoken to Ajitdada, and that there is a video of it. Her mobile phone holds many happy moments from the past year. In Sule's words, the merger was under discussion as long as her brother was alive, and a date had been fixed. After Ajitdada's death, his party put a full stop to the merger. Since then there has been no statement from their side, no spokesperson has spoken, and no statement from the Ajit Pawar faction has been responded to. Sule said this is an emotional issue for her. It had been decided to move ahead with her brother, and now that he is no more, what is there to discuss.

Sule said her party is a national party and will continue to discuss policies. The party talks to its MPs about policy-making, and its MPs sit on different committees. As an example, she said a new road was being built in Nilesh Lanke's constituency which he did not approve of, and local people were also opposed. When Amol Kolhe was asked, he took Lanke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Sule said relationships and politics should not be mixed.

Noting that Chhagan Bhujbal is turning 80 and that Tatkare has been in politics for 40 to 50 years, Sule said she is junior to them in experience and age. It is a lesson from home that one should not speak against one's elders. She said her 20-year record shows she speaks with respect. According to her, relationships are never broken from her side, power comes and goes, but relationships last. She said that they have spoken, so what should she say. She has 20 years of experience and the others have 40.

Sule spoke warmly about Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. "Now you will say she is praising the BJP," she said. According to Sule, as a people's representative she grew up watching the speeches of Jaitley, Sushmaji, Chidambaram and Manmohan Singh. She said she has come to serve.