PTI
Karad
Maharashtra NCP president Sunil Tatkare on Monday said the party, under late Ajit Pawar’s leadership, had collectively decided to join the BJP-led NDA and will stay in the ruling bloc and wondered which faction was to merge with whom, remarks coming amid reunification buzz.
The Lok Sabha MP asserted that appointing now Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, as the
head of the NCP legislature party on Saturday was the outfit’s own decision and the BJP, which leads the ruling Mahayuti alliance, had nothing to do with the move.
Talking to reporters at Karad in Satara district, Tatkare emphasised there should be clarity on “which party was to merge with which party,” remarks indicating the much-speculated talks about a possible reunification between the rival factions – the ruling NCP and Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (SP) – were in a limbo for now.
He accompanied Sunetra Pawar as she paid tributes at the memorial of the state’s first CM YB Chavan, in Karad, two days after she took over as the first woman deputy chief minister.
Sunetra Pawar took oath as deputy CM on Saturday, three days after her husband and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district.
Replying to a question about his opposition to the proposed merger, Tatkare said there was no question of him or NCP working president Praful Patel having a different opinion over the issue.
“Under Ajit dada’s leadership, we had taken a collective decision to join the BJP-led NDA, and people of the state have stamped their approval of his decision in the assembly elections. Those speaking of a merger should answer whether they are fine with it,” he said.
The Raigad MP stressed the NCP legislature party was strong enough to take its own decisions, like appointing a new leader.
Leaders of NCP (SP), including its chief Sharad Pawar, have claimed that merger talks were in advanced stages and Ajit Pawar had finalised February 12 as the date to announce reunification between the rival factions.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that if merger talks had been underway, Ajit Pawar would have shared details with him.
Asked why senior NCP (SP) leaders Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule were not present at the swearing-in of Sunetra Pawar, Tatkare insisted it was the job of the protocol department to send out invitations for such events.
