Decode Politics | After Ajit Pawar’s death, the big if: what a united NCP could have meant
Had the Pawars reunited, the combined NCP would have had 8 Lok Sabha MPs, just one less than the BJP tally from Maharashtra. Now all those equations are in disarray.
Just weeks ago, political circles were abuzz with speculation that the two sides were inching toward a family and political reunion. (File Photo) The sudden death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a chartered plane crash near Baramati on Wednesday has not only stunned Maharashtra politics but also cast a shadow over the long-simmering efforts at reconciliation between the rival factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by him and his uncle, party founder Sharad Pawar.
What did the reunion buzz indicate?
Just weeks ago, political circles were abuzz with speculation that the two sides — divided since Ajit Pawar’s dramatic 2023 breakaway to join the BJP-led Mahayuti government — were inching toward a family and political reunion. Leaders from both camps had dropped public hints, and the factions had even come together to contest local body polls in Pune, a symbolic experiment in cooperation that many saw as a prelude to a larger merger.
Ajit Pawar himself had struck a conciliatory tone in recent media interactions, downplaying old bitterness and signalling openness to rapprochement with assertions that he believed in “addition and not subtraction”. Around the local body polls, Ajit Pawar had said in a media interview: “The workers of both parties want to unite. The two NCPs are together now. All tensions in our family have ended.”
The talk in political corridors went further: that a united NCP could align within the Mahayuti framework in Maharashtra, with a carefully balanced arrangement to accommodate family and factional interests — including speculation that Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar could find a place in the state government, while Ajit Pawar’s wife might be considered for a role in the Union Council of Ministers.
Had the merger happened, what would have been the implications?
Such a merger would also have had national implications. With the BJP having faced setbacks in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the coming together of the two Pawar factions could have bolstered numbers in Parliament. With eight MPs, the NCP (SP) has one less MP than the BJP’s Maharashtra tally. Ajit Pawar’s organisational control in the state, combined with his uncle’s residual national stature, was viewed as a potentially stabilising force for the ruling alliance.
That entire political calculus now stands disrupted.
What next for NCP?
In Delhi, the impact of the news was immediate and deeply emotional. As word of Pawar’s death spread on Wednesday morning, party workers and leaders began gathering at the NCP’s Delhi office at 79, North Avenue. The mood was one of disbelief.
“The general feeling was shock. People kept saying they couldn’t believe that Ajit Dada was gone,” said a party functionary present there.
Under a tin shade in the courtyard of the bungalow that houses the office, leaders placed a framed photograph of Pawar, with posters from his birthday celebrations on July 22 last year still visible in the background. Workers lined up to lay flowers.
Party national general secretary and chief spokesperson Brijmohan Shrivastav recalled Pawar’s last visit to the office about five months ago. “We had discussed his plans for the party in Delhi and the Municipal elections. He had grand plans for the expansion of the party in the national capital,” he said.
Inside Shrivastav’s room, a small group of leaders shared memories of Pawar’s “affable nature” and his ability to make even junior workers feel important. “His sensitivity and clarity will leave a legacy,” said Kuldeep K. Bujoo, a core committee member of the NCP’s Delhi unit. “I can’t believe I won’t see him again.”
Shrivastav, preparing to leave for Pune, said it was too soon to talk about political implications. “His remains have still not been cremated. How can we think about anything else but his legacy and memory,” he said. “The party will be led well, but now is not the time to talk about it. It will happen in time.”
Beyond the grief, Pawar’s death removes a key figure who many saw as a bridge — however fragile — between the BJP and sections of the Pawar family, and between the two NCP factions themselves. His faction had enjoyed greater legislative strength and a firm place in government, while Sharad Pawar’s camp retained symbolic authority and a separate support base.
Without Ajit Pawar at the helm, questions arise over who leads his faction, how cohesive it remains, and whether the momentum toward reunion with Sharad Pawar’s side survives. “It could even be hastened as the NCP feels a leadership crisis. The party is very closely identified with the Pawar family and there is no one of the stature of Ajit Dada to replace him in the party,” a Maharashtra politician said.
For the BJP and its Mahayuti partners too, the development complicates alliance arithmetic in a politically crucial state. What was shaping up as a potentially advantageous consolidation now gives way to uncertainty, succession struggles and fresh negotiations.
Ajit Pawar’s death, therefore, is not only a personal and organisational loss for his supporters. It has also abruptly altered the trajectory of a political realignment that could have reshaped Maharashtra’s power structure in the months ahead.
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