Amit Shah looped in, what may still stall merger of NCP factions for now

NCP (SCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar may wait it out till key state polls in early 2027; Sunetra Pawar and her sons too are thought to be against any immediate patch-upExposing fresh fissures within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a group of senior leaders of the party have met Union home minister Amit Shah to discuss the growing rift between the old guard and a faction led by deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar and her son and Rajya Sabha MP Parth.The meeting is also said to have discussed the possibility of a merger between the NCP and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). However, sources say NCP (SCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar may choose to sit on the fence till the verdict of assembly elections in five states early next year. Sunetra and her sons too are not thought to be eager to bring about a political rapprochement with the rival NCP despite the BJP reportedly green-signalling the proposal. As a senior NCP leader noted, a building of bridges between the two groups was unlikely till the time it is pushed by the BJP.On November 1, a group of NCP veterans, namely former Union minister Praful Patel, Maharashtra unit chief and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare, state minister Chhagan Bhujbal, former ministers Dilip Walse Patil and Dhananjay Munde, and former MP Sameer Bhujbal, met Shah in Delhi.An NCP leader said the issue of Parth's growing involvement in the party and his seeming efforts to sideline the old guard formed a major part of the discussions, with Shah's intervention being sought. This may translate into the Union home minister keeping a close eye on further developments in the NCP. Already, the Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde is seen as Shah's cat’s-paw in the state.On November 2, the NCP leaders met Sunetra at her official residence in Mumbai.Parth is said to be eager to replace most of the NCP's eight faces in the Maharashtra cabinet. The NCP is also seeking the finance portfolio, which was held by deputy chief minister and party boss Ajit Pawar before his demise in an air crash in January.Parth's influence can be increasingly seen on recent NCP nominations and organisational appointments, such as that of Zeeshan Siddique and Vikram Sanjay Kakde as MLCs, and Vaishali Nagawade and Umesh Patil as president of the women's wing and chief spokesperson, respectively. Siddique was also appointed as the NCP’s Mumbai president, prompting the resignation of senior leader Siddharth Kamble as working president of the Mumbai unit. A small but powerful clique around Parth is seen as gaining dominance over the affairs of the NCP.For the record, Umesh Patil has denied any differences within the party and claimed that the meeting with Shah was “pre-scheduled and formal”.The victory of the NCP (SCP) in two graduates' constituency seats in Maharashtra has set alarm bells ringing in the NCP. Party leaders said any worsening perception of the NCP and its poor performance would also impact the popularity ratings of the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra.“The meeting [with Shah] was meant to send a stern message to the NCP leadership that we can meet the BJP national leadership without keeping them in the loop. We are not challenging Sunetra Pawar's appointment as deputy chief minister or national president of the NCP, but are upset at how the party is being run in a unilateral manner," said an NCP leader.“The issue of a merger with the NCP (SCP) was discussed,” claimed another senior leader, adding that Sunetra and Parth were not in favour of the same as it would circumscribe their influence. Sharad Pawar too is said to be eager to wait it out.“Not for now,” the senior leader said when asked about the possibility of a merger between the NCP factions in the immediate future. “Anything can happen in politics,” he added when asked if Sunetra and Parth would end up being sidelined if things did not change in the months to come.While a merger of the two NCPs was on the cards during Ajit's lifetime, with talks reaching a decisive stage, multiple sources from the NCP (SCP) said they were now on the backburner considering the resistance from Sunetra and Parth and also because the NCP (SCP) leadership wanted to test the winds after the recent wave of youth unrest. “The treasury benches are too crowded to accommodate us. The question is, what will our veterans get in case we switch to the Mahayuti's side,” said an NCP (SCP) functionary.A senior Congress leader observed that there was a chance that the “NCP may implode”, with lower- and middle-rung workers and functionaries making a beeline for the NCP (SCP). The NCP also had to contend with Shinde's efforts to fill the void of a pan-Maharashtra leader of the dominant Maratha community, following Ajit's demise.As analyst Vijay Chormare noted, the BJP was also trying to poach the NCP flock, besides the Shiv Sena and NCP (SCP). “The crisis is that the NCP lacks strong leadership. After all, elections have to be fought under a strong leader,” he said.The differences within the NCP had come to the fore after Sunetra’s letter to the Election Commission (EC) in March, in which she said that any correspondence from the NCP to the poll body between January 28 and February 26 should not be considered. This was seen as a blow to Patel and Tatkare. It is claimed that Patel and Tatkare had written to the EC that the NCP constitution had been amended and all powers were vested with the working president. This was alleged to be an attempt to take over the party organisation.Patel and Tatkare's names were also missing from the list of office-bearers submitted to the EC by the NCP on April 29. However, Sunetra later posted on social media that this was a “clerical mistake”, which leaders from the rival camp say “is yet to be corrected”.Sunetra is said to have objected to Patel and Tatkare meeting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis without informing her. For the record, Tatkare and Patel had denied any rift in the party. However, murmurs of differences intensified further after an NCP functionary from Jharkhand challenged the process by which Sunetra was elected the outfit’s national president.Analyst Abhay Deshpande said the BJP was bound to evolve an amicable solution to the issue without sidelining Sunetra and Parth. He pointed to how Rohit Pawar, who is Ajit's nephew and an NCP (SCP) MLA, had raised doubts about the air crash that had killed his uncle.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends