Zeeshan Siddique is NCP's new Mumbai president, Umesh Patil national chief spokesperson

The Nationalist Congress Party has reorganised its leadership. Legislative Council member Zeeshan Siddique is the new head of its Mumbai unit, and Umesh Patil, until now the Solapur district president, becomes the party's national chief spokesperson.

The appointment letters were handed over on Tuesday at Devgiri, the official residence of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, who is also the party's national president. MP Parth Pawar and several other leaders and office-bearers attended. Parth Pawar gave Siddique his letter, while Patil received his from Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar together. The posts were announced formally at the same gathering.

The Mumbai president's chair had been empty for several days. The change comes while the results of the teachers' and graduates' constituency elections are being widely discussed across Maharashtra.

Sunetra Pawar said she was confident that both men would strengthen the organisation and take it closer to ordinary people. She hoped they would work with complete dedication to carry forward the tradition of public service left by the late Ajit Pawar, whom party members also call Ajitdada.

Siddique is the son of the late Baba Siddique. He contested the 2024 Assembly election from Bandra East and lost to Varun Sardesai of the Shiv Sena (UBT). He spent a period of political uncertainty after that November defeat, and returned to elected office in May 2026 when he was elected to the Legislative Council.

After taking charge, Siddique thanked Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar. He said the responsibility meant a great deal to him and that building up the NCP in Mumbai was now his agenda. He described Sunetra Pawar as being like a mother to him and Parth Pawar like an elder brother, and said he would try to justify the trust they had placed in him. In his words, he was first given a Council seat and now the party's Mumbai presidency.

Siddique also commented on the finance portfolio. It had always remained with Ajitdada, he said, and he was fully confident that Sunetra Pawar could handle it.

The party hopes Siddique will build coordination inside the organisation and spread its grassroots network across the city. The NCP has long found it hard to build in Mumbai a presence comparable to its strongholds in western Maharashtra. In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections of January 2026 it won only three of the 227 seats, a sign of its limited weight in the city's civic politics. The party now wants a bigger grassroots network and better links with urban voters before the next elections.

Patil's elevation is meant to sharpen the party's structure and its communication. The letters stressed the party's progressive legacy and its commitment to engaging with citizens at the grassroots.

In a separate development in the Mahayuti camp, action may be taken against Shiv Sena office-bearers accused of working against the alliance in the Mumbai civic election. Sources say a list of such office-bearers has been prepared within the party, and that the BJP has handed Eknath Shinde a letter on the matter. The office-bearers are accused of taking a position against the party that hurt the Mahayuti. Some rebel candidates did not withdraw their nominations despite Shiv Sena efforts to persuade them, and some Shiv Sena leaders believe strict action should be taken against those rebels as well.