Rupali Thombare Patil says picture on NCP factions' merger will be clear in two weeks

Talk of a merger of the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions in Maharashtra has been going on for about a week. It gathered pace after Sunil Tatkare, state president of the Ajit Pawar faction, raised the issue. Leaders of the faction have also begun meeting Sharad Pawar, so a merger is being seen as possible. Rupali Thombare Patil, a leader of the Ajit Pawar faction, has now made a significant statement.

Speaking to the media, Thombare Patil said the picture would become clear in the next two weeks. According to her, merger talk used to surface even when Ajit Pawar was alive, and it has started again after seven months. She said she would accept whatever decision Sharad Pawar and Sunetra Pawar take on the merger. In her words, this was Ajit Pawar's heartfelt wish and it now seems to be coming true.

She also raised questions about Tatkare, asking why he had dismissed the merger talk earlier. She asked whether, if the matter has been raised again after nine months, the suffering and hardship the party workers went through would be undone. She said that if party leaders have stayed silent for the sake of posts, she could not say anything about that. According to her, Tatkare is responsible for all this and should answer for it.

Thombare Patil said Ajit Pawar had made Tatkare state president and she had been watching his work since then. What MLA Mahesh Thorve and Ramdas Kadam said was shocking to her. She said questions about Ajit Pawar's accident are in the minds of people across Maharashtra. She thanked Kadam for speaking on it despite belonging to another party. She demanded that the accident be investigated and that its report be placed before them.

State Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat had claimed that a third faction could emerge in the NCP. Thombare Patil said she had no information at present on whether a third faction would form, but anything can happen in politics.

Speaking on the Gokul election, she made clear that she would put her views as a lawyer. She said the "sadistic pleasure" of the chairman's post was being enjoyed for only a short while and was temporary. According to her, administration officials have been sent who cannot be given the right to vote, because they are servants of those in power. She said the legal process had been delayed and the delay had benefited only the holding of the chairman's election. She claimed these arguments would not stand in court later.

Finally, she said the public's verdict must be respected and that politics has become muddied. She did not find the statement made by Chandrakant Dada appropriate. She said it was wrong to issue threats while in power. She added, "Dada, you should not have done this."