The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-SP chief Sharad Pawar. File
| Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
“Sharad Pawar will not join hands with Ajit Pawar to support the BJP,” top NCP SP sources told The Hindu on Wednesday (January 8, 2025), amid speculations on whether the leader will extend support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
“Though Ajit Pawar tried to split our party, the NCP State president told seven of our eight Lok Sabha MPs recently that they should isolate the father-daughter duo and should join Ajit Pawar. But there is no question of any split in our party further. There is no question of the MPs joining Ajit Pawar,” a senior source privy to all the developments told The Hindu.
When asked about whether he had made any such offer to the NCP SP Members of Parliament in the last month during the recent session, NCP State president Sunil Tatkare said, “I don’t know.” NCP SP sources told The Hindu that the MPs had immediately raised the issue with Sharad Pawar and with Supriya Sule, who allegedly expressed their discontent over it by contacting senior leaders like Praful Patel. When contacted, Praful Patel refused to comment on it.
However, top sources in the NCP denied that there was any such offer. “There is no such offer to the MPs of Sharad Pawar’s party. There is no proposal of the two groups coming together. If anything, this could probably have been a case of a corridor banter,” a party source said, while speaking about the alleged offer rolled out last month in New Delhi in the parliament during the session.
‘Isolate father-daughter duo’
“When we heard about it, we had a hearty laugh. We are not Tatkare that we will abandon the father and the daughter who gave us everything. How can someone even say that the father-daughter duo should be isolated, and that others should jump the ship?” asked NCP SP leader Jitendra Awhad.
Also read: The tick-tock of the Pawar family clock
Meanwhile, speculations about whether Sharad Pawar will support the NDA were denied completely by the top sources in the NCP SP party. “There is no way Sharad Pawar will support the BJP. Those who know him know that he will not support the BJP,” a senior leader said.
Speaking with reporters, Shiv Sena UBT MP claimed that Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel had been given the task of engineering a divide in the NCP SP party by promising Union Cabinet berth.
Tactic to pressurise Nitish?
“This is being planted by the BJP to build pressure on Nitish Kumar in view of what has been happening in Bihar. We aren’t joining anyone. There is no question of Sharad Pawar supporting communal forces. This news is being spread to keep a check on Nitish Kumar. We are clear that there is no discussion about this, and that none of us are going anywhere,” a senior leader told The Hindu.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP has eight sitting Members of Parliament including his daughter Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha.
Sources close to the BJP however did not discount the possibility of the party testing waters for a possible support to the NDA in the Lok Sabha. Though Sharad Pawar had recently denied the speculations after his meeting with the PM, BJP sources indicated that if the NCP SP supports the NDA, it will give an additional layer of security to the BJP-led alliance and that a senior leader of the regional party can be given a cabinet berth in the Union government. But no leaders from the BJP officially denied or confirmed the speculations.
Published – January 08, 2025 03:00 pm IST
