NCP, NCP (SP) merger was to be announced on Feb 12, claims former Pune mayor Kakde

NCP (SP) leader and former Pune mayor Ankush Kakde said late Ajit Pawar wanted the two factions of the NCP to merge and that the event was to take place on Thursday. Pawar's death in a plane crash on January 28 has triggered intense speculation over the merger process of the NCP and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), with leaders making different statements on the subject. ''During the civic polls, Ajitdada assured us that the merger of the two parties will take place soon. According to him, the merger was supposed to take place today. Unfortunately, it could not happen as Ajitdada left us on January 28. Had he been alive, we would have seen the merger of the two factions today,'' Kakde claimed. Incidentally, after Pawar's death, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar had claimed the departed leader wanted to reunite both the factions and that the merger date was fixed for February 12. In a press conference, the former Union minister had also said leaders from his party and Ajit Pawar had held a meeting in Baramati on January 17 related to the merger.