Tatkare: NCP's two factions would be united today had Ajit Pawar lived

Mumbai: Fresh talk of the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions coming together has begun in Maharashtra, after state president and Raigad MP Sunil Tatkare spoke about the late Ajit Pawar. The remark has stirred political circles at a time when the ruling side and the Opposition are already at odds over several issues.

"If Ajit Pawar were alive, both the Nationalist Congress parties would have been seen together today," Tatkare said. He added that the picture would have been quite different had "Ajitdada" been around, and that the two parties would have been seen coming closer. Tatkare also said that discussions on bringing the factions together were under way while Pawar was alive, and that the idea has lost momentum since his death.

Tatkare went further with a claim of his own. By his account, a date of 12 February would also have been settled for the matter. He said he was close to Ajit Pawar, and that Pawar had told him so personally. At the same time, Tatkare made it clear that no talks on a merger are on at present.

The comments follow a visit by NCP leader Praful Patel to Sharad Pawar at a hospital on Thursday, 5 November. Coming out of that meeting, Patel said the two sides were distant in politics but not at heart. That set off questions about whether the parties might reunite.

Shashikant Shinde, state president of the Sharad Pawar faction, also responded. He said a merger had been discussed even in Ajit Pawar's lifetime, but such statements were not taken seriously then. Now that Tatkare has said it himself, Shinde said, the reality has come out. He also argued that if the two parties had joined hands, the political picture in the Zilla Parishad and municipal corporation elections would have looked different.

The NCP split into two parties: the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), led by Sharad Pawar, and the Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar. Both continue to work separately under their own leaders. Meetings between some leaders of the two sides have kept the possibility of a merger in the news for some time, and Pawar's death has given the question new weight. Some are also asking whether he viewed a reunion favourably.

For now, nothing is official. No decision or talks on a merger have been announced. Any union would change the state's political equations, but it would need agreement among senior leaders on both sides. Observers are watching what stand the Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions take in the coming weeks.