NCP (SP) leader Lavande claims Ajit Pawar was set to quit Mahayuti

Vikas Lavande, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) faction, has claimed that Ajit Pawar was about to leave the Mahayuti. He said what Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said is correct.

The background is that when NCP (Sharad Pawar) president Sharad Pawar was admitted to hospital, Praful Patel, a leader of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, met him. After the meeting, talk of a merger of the two NCP parties started again. Around the same time, Ajit Pawar faction leader Sunil Tatkare also said there was no talk of a merger at present. According to him, had Ajitdada been around, the merger would have happened on February 12, and Ajitdada had told him about it.

After Tatkare's claim, Congress leader Atul Londhe said Ajit Pawar's plan was to leave the Mahayuti and become chief minister. Lavande has now reacted to Londhe's claim.

Lavande said it was true that Ajitdada was set to leave the Mahayuti. According to him, on January 19, 2026, he himself spoke with Ajitdada at the Baramati Hostel in Pune, along with MLA Rohit Pawar.

According to Lavande, Ajitdada himself said his partnership with the Bharatiya Janata Party would not last long because corruption was rampant there on a large scale. Lavande said Ajit Pawar's words were that "we will leave in 2028, and without coming together we have no option."

Lavande said Ajit Pawar was fed up with the BJP and its working and was about to leave it. He called this the truth. Lavande's claim has given a new turn to the question of the merger.