MUMBAI: The much-talked-about merger of the NCP’s two factions seems to have been put on the backburner. While senior leaders of the NCP led by the late Ajit Pawar took an aggressive stand against the push by Sharad Pawar faction leaders for the merger, NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde said on Saturday that they would not talk about the issue now. Pawar faction insiders said the party leadership had issued a gag order to its leaders, asking them not to speak about the merger in the media.
The talk about the merger gained momentum following the sudden death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash on January 28. Several senior leaders of the NCP (SP) publicly then said that talks were being held between their senior leaders and Ajit Pawar for the merger. In an article in the party mouthpiece, NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde said it had been decided in the presence of Sharad Pawar and Ajit to merge the two parties on February 12 and hand over the leadership of the merged party to Ajit. Shinde had declared that fulfilling the incomplete dream of reuniting the two parties would be an apt tribute to the former deputy chief minister.
Top NCP leaders initially maintained silence, saying they would have to take the BJP into confidence, but in the past couple of days have been displaying an aggressive stance, claiming there was no such proposal and Ajit Pawar had not told them anything about any such decision.
“Why do they keep talking about the merger? Why is there such a hurry? It can be done in a day, in a month or after two months,” said food and civil supplies minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Saturday. He added that Sunetra Pawar, who has taken over as deputy chief minister, would soon become party president too, after which she would take a call. “A new captain has come and she will decide,”he said.
Earlier, on Friday, state NCP president Sunil Tatkare said there was no merger proposal on the table. “If they (the Pawar faction) want to come with us, are they willing to be in alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena?” he asked. “They should answer this question.”
NCP national working president Praful Patel said that the priority of the party top brass was “to stand with deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar”. “She is our leader and our priority is to work together to strengthen the party under her leadership,” he said.
A senior NCP (SP) leader said the party leadership had issued a gag order, instructing its leaders not to speak on the merger anymore. “We don’t want to discuss anything on this subject now. Henceforth, no comments,”Shinde said on Saturday when mediapersons asked him about the remarks by NCP leaders.
“In the past two or three days, our leaders have stopped speaking about the merger,” said the above-mentioned senior leader. “Shinde had written an article earlier in our party magazine Rashtravadi, which came out on Thursday. For us, this issue is now on the backburner.”
The developments of the past two days mean that there is unlikely to be anything more from the NCP on the merger discussions till Sunetra Pawar takes over as NCP president. Significantly, she met prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Wednesday. NCP leaders, who are now planning to get her anointed as party chief in two to three weeks, have also maintained that Sharad Pawar and his colleagues will have to discuss the merger issue with her now..
It is in this context that the NCP (SP)’s decision to stop talking about the issue in public assumes significance. “We would rather wait for the next few days and see how things unfold in the NCP,” said an NCP (SP) legislator.