Pune civic polls: Ajit Pawar shares political stage with estranged cousin Supriya Sule; says ‘wait & watch’ on merger of 2 NCPs

PUNE: The estranged cousins Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule came together for the first time on a political stage on Saturday to release a joint manifesto of NCP and NCP (SP) for the Pune civic polls nearly two-and-a-half years after the split in the family and the party, but both remained non-committal regarding the merger of their outfits.

"Wait and watch," said AJit Pawar, without giving a specific answer to the speculations over the parties' merger.




Ajit Pawar's NCP and Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) formed an alliance for Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation elections despite being on opposite sides in the state govt and the Centre. NCP is with the ruling alliance in both govts, while NCP (SP) is in the opposition. After the two NCPs forged an alliance for the civic polls, some workers from both sides were disappointed.

Speaking on the issue, Supriya said, "When any alliance is formed, some party workers get disappointed. But we will not leave them on their own. On both sides of the alliance, our focus is on workers and not on the leaders."

When Supriya was asked about her absence in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) poll campaign, her cousin Ajit Pawar came to the rescue. "She told me to take the lead in the campaign as I am older than her and promised that she would follow me," he said.

Ajit Pawar and Supriya were seen together for the first time during the release of their parties' joint manifesto for PMC polls since the election campaign started. PMC will go to polls with 28 other municipal corporations in the state on Jan 15.

The bonhomie between the members of two parties was visible during the release of the joint manifesto, after they trained guns against each other during the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in 2024 following the split in NCP in July 2023. Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP) approached the court against Ajit Pawar's NCP, claiming the ownership of the party's name and the "clock" symbol.

When asked about speculations over the parties coming together when the case was still in the court, Ajit Pawar said, "We respect the court's order and follow it. As far as the solution to the issue is concerned, Supriya and I will sit together and find it on our own; nobody else needs to bother about it."

No possibility of Sena factions' reunion: Neelam Gorhe

Senior member of Shiv Sena Neelam Gorhe ruled out any possibility of reunion between Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) amid speculations over the merger of NCP and NCP (SP) gaining momentum.

Gorhe told reporters on Saturday, "How can the reunion talks even be possible when the other side is spitting venom every morning?"

There was a split in Sena before NCP when Eknath Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022. Shinde became the chief minister then with the support of BJP.

Against the backdrop of NCP factions' reunion talks, Gorhe said, "Some members from both sides keep on interacting with each other on personal level. However, there is no possibility of reunion in sight as the other side (Shiv Sena [UBT]) is constantly making negative remarks against our party. In such a scenario, nothing can happen."