Ajit Pawar 'compelled' to leave undivided NCP, was to lead party post merger: Shashikant Shinde

NCP (SP) Maharashtra president Shashikant Shinde has claimed ''manoeuvres by invisible forces, threats, and a web of false allegations'' created a situation that compelled late Ajit Pawar to step out of the parent organisation, leading to the split in the Sharad Pawar-founded party. In a tribute published in the February 2026 edition of party magazine 'Rashtravadi', Shinde further claimed the process of ''correcting past mistakes'' was underway, and that Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash on January 28, was supposed to lead the NCP after merger of the two factions. The NCP split in July 2023 after Ajit Pawar joined the then Eknath Shinde government. His side got the NCP name and 'clock' symbol, while the Sharad Pawar-led faction was christened Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). Since Ajit Pawar's death, there has been tremendous speculation over the merger process of the two factions, though leaders from the two sides have made disparate statements on the issue. ''We all know that manoeuvres by invisible forces, threats, and a web of false allegations created a situation where Ajit Pawar felt compelled to step out of the parent organization,'' Shinde said in the article. He was forced to form a separate group against his original intentions, the NCP (SP) MLC added. Shinde has written in the article that a quiet process of ''correcting past mistakes'' had been underway for the last four to five months, pointing out that Ajit Pawar was in dialogue with Sharad Pawar and Jayant Patil to reunite the two factions. The departed leader had taken a lead role in the recent municipal corporation and Zilla Parishad poll campaigns to signal this homecoming, Shinde added. A formal decision to merge both factions of the NCP was to be made on February 12 in the presence of party patriarch Sharad Pawar, he further wrote. The leadership of the unified NCP was set to be officially handed over to Ajit Pawar following the merger, but the tragic accident has left the transition incomplete, Shinde said. ''The dream of seeing both sides of the party come together under Ajitdada's leadership remains unfulfilled due to the intervention of fate,'' Shinde stated while calling on party workers to honour his memory by completing the unification process. The article concluded by stating that the most ''sincere tribute'' to Ajit Pawar would be the successful merger and strengthening of the NCP, which the departed leader had spent decades building. Meanwhile, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare objected to terms like invisible forces used in Shinde's article while speaking on why Ajit Pawar had to move out of the undivided party. ''Ajitdada always wanted to align with BJP since 2014 as he felt the BJP and NCP could provide political stability and good governance. And he had made this clear to the NCP leadership on several occasions. I don't know why Shinde has written all this and what is his objective in writing it,'' Tatkare said. The BJP is committed to the NCP and would give the party strength post the death of Ajit Pawar, Tatkare asserted. ''The NCP is an ally of the NDA and will remain so,'' the Raigad Lok Sabha MP reiterated. NCP leader Suraj Chavan, speaking on the issue, said Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar has been authorised to take a call on the merger of the two factions. ''Our priority is to strengthen the party and the state,'' Chavan said.