NCP row widens with fresh claims over constitution and leadership battle

After Rohit Pawar, nephew of the late Ajit Pawar and an MLA from the Sharad Pawar faction, alleged that Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare had taken control of the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), state president of the Sharad group Shashikant Shinde further stirred political debate by claiming that the party constitution had been altered.

Responding on Tuesday, Ajit Pawar faction leader and spokesperson Suraj Chavan rejected any changes to the party constitution and levelled serious allegations against Rohit Pawar. He claimed that Pawar had paid Rs 5 crore to an agency to malign the Nationalist Congress Party and engineer a split within it. Chavan said Rohit Pawar was attempting to divide the party and should instead focus on his own faction. He added that the allegations would be answered “in the same language”.

Before Chavan addressed the media, Ajit Pawar’s newly elected MP son Parth Pawar held a meeting of around 45 minutes with state party president and MP Sunil Tatkare at the party office in Mumbai. Tatkare later told reporters that Chavan had already clarified the issue regarding the party constitution. He also stated that the party was moving forward under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar and asserted that the Pawar family remained united.

Chavan dismissed reports suggesting that certain elements had been removed from the party constitution as misleading. He said claims about excluding frontal organisations such as OBC, social justice and Seva Dal were entirely false. According to him, since its formation, the party has had five frontal wings: the women’s wing, youth wing, student wing, Seva Dal and the main organisational wing. OBC and social justice cells, he said, were never designated as frontal organisations.

Referring to documents submitted to the Election Commission, Chavan cited Article 27.1 to support his position. He accused the Rohit Pawar faction of selectively presenting Article 30 to the media while omitting parts of Article 28, which includes Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities, किसानों (farmers), and local bodies. These cells, he said, have existed since the party’s inception, and alleged that the opposing camp was misleading the public.

Earlier, Rohit Pawar had claimed in a press conference that 18 days after Ajit Pawar’s death, a letter was sent to the Election Commission stating that control of the party lay with Praful Patel. The letter, he said, bore the signatures of Patel, Tatkare and Brijmohan Srivastava, and that Sunetra Pawar was unaware of it. He added that Sunetra Pawar later wrote to the Commission requesting that any correspondence made between 28 January 2026 and the appointment of a new party president be treated as null and void.

Separately, controversy arose at a party event in Raigad two days ago when banners did not feature the names or images of Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar, instead displaying Sunil Tatkare’s photograph. Following criticism, Tatkare’s daughter and minister Aditi Tatkare issued an apology, stating that the party respected Sunetra Pawar.

Meanwhile, Sunetra Pawar’s unopposed election in the Baramati by-election appears uncertain. She is expected to file her nomination on 6 April for the seat left vacant following Ajit Pawar’s death. OBC leader Laxman Hake has opposed her candidature, stating that OBC reservation was not Ajit Pawar’s contribution and confirming that a candidate would be fielded against her.

In a post on X, Rohit Pawar also raised concerns about alleged attempts to suppress sensitive information. He wrote that discussions were underway about eliminating a person known as “Kharat”, who allegedly had information about several individuals, while efforts were being made to protect VK Singh, said to have insider knowledge about Ajit Pawar’s accident.

He added that while those guilty must be punished, any attempt to suppress the truth—whether by harming individuals or shielding others—was unacceptable. If such political strategies were being employed, he warned, they would erode public trust in the system.

“However much one may try, the truth cannot be hidden forever—it will come out one day,” he wrote.