Sharad Pawar puts a full stop to speculation on reunion with Ajit Pawar’s NCP

NCP (SP) Chief Sharad Pawar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) supremo Sharad Pawar on Tuesday (June 17, 2025) put the brakes on speculation about a possible merger between the two factions of the NCP in Maharashtra, saying his party would not align with anyone who had joined hands with the BJP for power.

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“We won’t come together with those who joined hands with the BJP. We can only be with people who believe in the ideology of Gandhi, Shahu, Phule and Ambedkar,” said the former Chief Minister, addressing party workers in Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune district.

His statement comes amid growing speculation of NCP-SP and his nephew Ajit Pawar’s NCP reunion, ahead of the upcoming local polls in the State. Mr. Pawar and Ajit Pawar were seen sharing the stage on several occasions, fuelling the rumours.

Without taking the name of Mr. Ajit Pawar, he said, “I don’t want to encourage the politics of opportunism.” Those who partner with the BJP cannot have the thought process of the NCP, he said.

Mr. Ajit Pawar, along with a few leaders, had joined the BJP-led government in Maharashtra, causing a split in the NCP in July 2023. In the Lok Sabha election held in June 2024, the NCP-SP was ahead in the race but suffered a setback in the Assembly election held in November 2024.

Now, with the upcoming local polls, party functionaries and former corporators are shuffling between parties. Several former corporators — including Ajit Gavhane, an NCP-SP candidate who contested the Maharashtra Assembly election from Bhosari, Pune — are set to join the NCP.

Mr. Pawar told party workers “not to worry”. “Don’t worry about who is leaving, focus on preparation and winning elections, we will take everyone who follows the thought process of Shahu-Ambedkar-Phule-Gandhi,” he said.

Giving an example of how a comeback can be made, Mr. Pawar said, “I remember becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 1978, only to see our government dismissed in 1980. In the next election, our party won 70 seats. However, during my trip to England for ten days, all 70 MLAs, except six, defected from the party. I was surprised to see mass defection as our workers worked hard for these MLAs. Still, I did not lose hope, and I increased my contact with people,” he said.

He said the party’s MLAs later won and the party became one of the important in the Maharashtra Assembly.