Mumbai: Over a month after the Maharashtra assembly elections, both factions of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s mother Asha Pawar have called for a reunion.
As per reports, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said he would be ‘extremely happy’ if the Pawar family came together and called NCP founder Sharad Pawar their “deity”.
Similarly, while speaking to reporters after visiting the Vithal-Rukmini temple in Pandharpur, Ajit Pawar’s mother Ashatai said she prayed for the reunion of the family on New Year’s Day.
She said she wished that all of Ajit Pawar’s dreams came true and added that all disputes should end. “Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar should reunite,” she said.
Ashatai was not the only one who vouched for the reunion less than a month after the Maharashtra elections.
Praful Patel, a senior member of the NCP led by Ajit, said, “Sharad Pawar is our deity. We have a high degree of respect for him. If the Pawar family comes together, it will make us extremely happy. I consider myself a member of the Pawar family.”
Similarly, NCP MLA Narhari Zirwal expressed that it felt strange to have left Sharad Pawar after the June 2023 split. “Many share the same sentiment. Now, I will approach him and encourage both him and Ajit to reunite. Pawar saheb has always worked tirelessly for people from all walks of life, and continues to do so.”
NCP spokesperson Amol Mitkari said the uncle-nephew duo could come together if both make the effort. But, he added, some NCP (SP) leaders like Jitendra Awhad (Sharad Pawar’s key aide) and Rohit Pawar (Sharad Pawar’s grand nephew) might be a “hurdle” in that. “They will never like the two coming together… But Asha tai’s prayers are the prayer of every karyakarta of both NCP groups…We all feel we should come together,” said Mitkari.
Asked about this, Ahwad said it was not within his prerogative to make any decision regarding this, and that the Pawars would have to decide for themselves. ”If Asha Pawar is saying that Pawars should come together, then what can I say? It is their family matter. They will have to take the call…What I think does not matter,” he said.
NCP ally BJP said it would have no problems. BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said if the two Pawars were coming together, there was “no reason” for the BJP to “object” to the same.
Ajit had split from the NCP in June 2023, taking 40 MLAs with him, later joining hands with the BJP and Shiv Sena and become a part of the Mahayuti government.
