Pawar Camps Reunite in Pune Civic Polls
Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions join hands for Pune and PCMC elections, fuel merger speculation
- Both NCP factions announce alliance for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic polls
- Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule release joint manifesto
- Leaders leave door open for future merger
- Reunited front aims to focus on local development
GG News Bureau
Pune, 12th Jan: Two years after the dramatic split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the rival camps led by party founder Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar have reunited for the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections.
The development has revived intense speculation over a possible reunion or merger of the two factions that have remained bitterly opposed since 2023.
NCP chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule — daughter of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar’s cousin — addressed a joint press conference on Tuesday, unveiling a common manifesto for the civic polls.
“Both NCPs have come together in Pune and PCMC in the interest of Pimpri Chinchwad by keeping aside our differences. We have come together for development,” Ajit Pawar said.
On the possibility of a full merger between the two camps, Ajit Pawar said the issue was not on the immediate agenda. “We have not thought about this yet. Our primary focus is on the upcoming elections. Only after the elections will we see,” he added.
Echoing a similar view, Supriya Sule said, “Our alliance is for the municipal corporation elections. We will see about it in the future.”
Leaders from both factions said that party workers had been urging them to contest the civic polls together to strengthen the party’s position at the grassroots level.
The NCP split in 2023 after Ajit Pawar pushed for aligning the party with the BJP-led NDA, a move opposed by Sharad Pawar, who chose to remain with the Opposition bloc along with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). Ajit Pawar later joined the NDA and was inducted as Deputy Chief Minister in the Eknath Shinde government.
Ajit Pawar’s faction retained the NCP name and symbol and contested the Maharashtra Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena last year.
The reunion for the Pune and PCMC polls is being viewed as a potential turning point in Maharashtra politics, with both camps indicating that the possibility of coming together again remains open.
