NEW DELHI/MUMBAI With Union Home Minister Amit Shah meeting senior NCP leaders at his Delhi residence on Sunday, the Nationalist Congress Party finds itself at the centre of a brewing internal crisis amid reports of discontent over the leadership style of Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth.
The meeting, sources said, was convened against a backdrop of growing unease within the party following the sudden death of former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar earlier this year. Ajit Pawar's passing in a plane crash had thrust his wife Sunetra into the party president role, with his son Parth, a political novice, allegedly taking unofficial control of party affairs.
Six senior NCP leaders — including NCP national working president Praful Patel, Maharashtra chief Sunil Tatkare, ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, and netas Dhananjay Munde and Dilip Patil — called on Shah at his residence. Neither Sunetra nor Parth Pawar was present at the closed-door meeting, where sources said the leaders aired grievances particularly about Parth allegedly making important decisions through his mother without consulting senior party figures.
"Having grown in a political family and married into Pawar clan, she has enough smarts not to sense the unease among seniors," said one unhappy party member, citing what he described as Sunetra's alleged backing of Parth's purported unilateral decisions.
The NCP's recent poor performance in the legislative council elections — where the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP won two seats while NCP drew zero — forms the immediate background to these developments. Senior leaders who sided with Ajit Pawar during the party's split from Sharad Pawar have criticised Parth's style of functioning as "authoritarian," stating that none of the senior leaders have been consulted for any important decision.
At a core committee meeting called by Sunetra Pawar in Mumbai on Monday evening, similar discontent was expressed by committee members, according to sources. Sunil Tatkare, the Maharashtra state president of the NCP, spoke to reporters after the meeting and denied reports of significant differences within the party, while hinting at the need to strengthen the organisation under the current leadership.
Sources in the BJP, the NCP's alliance partner, suggested that organisational discord within the NCP could help opposition NCP-SP regain ground in western Maharashtra and hurt the governing coalition. Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the third partner in the ruling alliance, could potentially use NCP's decline to gain leverage over BJP. Meanwhile, the possibility of a merger between the NCP and NCP-SP was discussed at Shah's residence, though Tatkare rejected suggestions that the merger issue remained active.
Sharad Pawar, 85, was admitted to a private hospital in Pune following cough and uneasiness on Monday. His daughter Supriya Sule posted on social media that her father was undergoing medical tests and that all his health parameters were stable.
The NCP has sought to downplay the reports of internal differences, with national spokesperson Umesh Patil terming media reports as mischievous. Sunetra Pawar had met Amit Shah a few days prior to the leaders' meeting and reportedly informed him about the planned delegation. With the NCP a part of the BJP-led NDA, the coming days are seen as crucial for the party as it navigates these internal dynamics while facing the prospect of organisational challenges in western Maharashtra.
