Sharad Pawar's health and Ajit Pawar's death leave both NCP factions uneasy, analysis says

Sharad Pawar's health has declined somewhat of late and he is less visible in public life. The analysis says this weighs on party workers. Its author holds that the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) is a one-pillar tent whose journey so far has run on Pawar's energy. The author adds that the party led by Ajit Pawar was in the same position.

Pawar was admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune and later to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. He is 85 and will enter his 86th year on December 12. While he was undergoing treatment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned him directly. According to Vitthal Maniyar, a childhood friend of Pawar, Modi said: "Pawar saheb, take care of your health. Rest. Do not worry about the country. Supriyatai and we will see to that..!"

Supriya Sule neither denied nor accepted Maniyar's account. She said only that such a conversation is private between two people and should remain so. The author asks what her remarks mean and says there are several possibilities.

Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash on January 28, 2026. The author notes that confusion and anxiety have prevailed in the party since. After his death the question of a merger came up. It was claimed that "Dada" had discussed a merger with Pawar's associates, and Jayant Patil gave details of meetings on the subject. Dada's close associates, including Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal, denied that such talks took place and said Dada had never spoken to them about it.

On the third day after his death, the party's leadership was formally handed to Sunetra Pawar. On the fourth day she became Deputy Chief Minister at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan. In April 2026, Parth Pawar got a Rajya Sabha seat. Parth contested from the Maval constituency in 2019 and lost to Shiv Sena's Shrirang Barne by more than two lakh votes.

The author says complaints had recently been heard that Parth Pawar was interfering in the NCP's portfolios in the Cabinet. Zeeshan Siddique's appointment as Mumbai president came at Parth's insistence, and Umesh Patil was chosen as chief spokesperson. The author says Bhujbal and Tatkare were not told of either decision beforehand.

Senior leaders Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel and Hasan Mushrif then met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi late at night. Before that they had met at Bhujbal's bungalow in Mumbai. Sunetra Pawar was not invited on either occasion. The demand that the finance portfolio be returned to the NCP has been running for some months. The portfolio is currently held by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The author says the BJP appears to think that, if it is given at all, it should go to an experienced leader such as Walse Patil.

Only 30 of 41 MLAs attended an urgent meeting of legislators called by Sunetra Pawar. The author says the MLAs elected in Dada's name are uneasy.