Sunetra Pawar set to meet PM Modi amid NCP leadership row
Visit comes as BJP watches closely, with succession and NCP merger disputes still unresolved
Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, is expected to travel to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid ongoing uncertainty over the party’s national leadership and the proposed merger of the two NCP factions following Pawar’s death in a plane crash on 28 January. She is also likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah. Sources say she could arrive in the national capital on 9 February.
According to sources, after the NDA parliamentary party meeting in Delhi on Tuesday, 3 February, NCP working national president and MP Praful Patel met Modi and Shah. Following discussions on the rapidly evolving political situation in Maharashtra, the prime minister and home minister reportedly invited Sunetra Pawar to Delhi. Shah had attended Ajit Pawar’s last rites, where he expressed condolences and personally comforted NCP patriarch and Ajit's estranged uncle Sharad Pawar.
Just three days after Pawar's plane crashed in Baramati Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister in a swift political move. She was allotted all the portfolios previously held by her husband, except finance. On Tuesday, she was additionally appointed guardian minister for Pune and Beed districts. Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha member and is yet to complete the formal process of resigning from the Upper House.
Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction is part of the NDA both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, and the BJP is therefore keeping a close — if indirect — watch on internal decisions within the party. Union minister Piyush Goyal had earlier announced that Patel had been elected NCP national president, only to later retract the statement on X and issue an apology, saying the information was incorrect.
On Tuesday, Patel himself clarified in Delhi that he was not in the race for the post, adding that the position should be handed to “Sunetra tai with due respect”.
Meanwhile, the question of merging the two NCP factions — said to have been Ajit Pawar’s wish — has turned contentious. Sharad Pawar and leaders from his NCP faction have claimed that Ajit Pawar had favoured a reunification, with an announcement expected on 12 February. However, leaders from the Ajit Pawar faction have rejected this claim. NCP (AP) state president Sunil Tatkare went so far as to question whether Sharad Pawar would even accept Sunetra Pawar’s leadership.
Adding to the debate, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that had Ajit Pawar been contemplating leaving the Mahayuti alliance or pursuing an NCP merger, he would have discussed it with him. “Ajit Pawar never expressed any such intention,” Fadnavis said.
Sources suggest that the BJP effectively holds the key to any merger between the two NCP factions, and sees the process as an opportunity to consolidate its growing political strength. Shah, it is learnt, has sought details from Patel on the politics unfolding around the merger and has advised BJP leaders to maintain silence on the issue for now.
For the moment, Sunetra Pawar has chosen not to comment publicly on any of these developments.