Buzz over Amit Shah meeting: NCP core group meets for second time in three days

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) core committee met on Wednesday, its second meeting in three days, after a group of senior leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi without the party head and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar.

A senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said the core committee met in the morning but declined to speak on the agenda. “There is nothing to share in public,” the leader said.

Sunetra Pawar attended the meeting, sources said.

Earlier, the party’s core committee met in Mumbai on Monday, followed by a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday night.

The party leaders have rejected speculation about sidelining Sunetra Pawar and her sons, and said there is no truth in reports of a merger with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

A group of senior NCP leaders – Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Dilip Walse Patil, Hassan Mushrif, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde – met Shah in Delhi on Sunday. The absence of Sunetra Pawar and her sons Parth, a Rajya Sabha member, and Jay during the talks raised eyebrows in political circles.
The NCP later brushed aside reports of internal friction.A party leader had claimed that the meeting was aimed at discussing ways to improve coordination between the NCP and other constituents of the Mahayuti alliance, which comprises the BJP, NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

On Tuesday, Sunetra Pawar met party legislators at her official residence ‘Deogiri’ in south Mumbai, where she expressed confidence that the party would win more seats in the 2029 elections. Around 50 legislators, including ministers, attended the meeting, where Sunetra Pawar’s sons were also present.

Later, Mumbai NCP president Zeeshan Siddique said all legislators, ministers and office-bearers present at the meeting unanimously said the party was united under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, was vertically split after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government in July 2023. He was appointed the deputy CM at that time. Pawar’s stint in the same post continued after Devendra Fadnavis came to the helm as CM following the November 2024 assembly polls.

Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in January this year. Subsequently, Sunetra Pawar became the NCP head and deputy CM.