Amid a push for the reunification of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and speculation that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) faction may “join the government” following the merger, the other parties in the Opposition INDIA bloc have adopted a wait-and-watch approach.
“What can we do?” asked a senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader in Delhi. “The two factions and the (Pawar) family have to take a call. A senior member of the family has died and we don’t want to interfere and make any overtures right now. We are watching the situation and will do something as the situation develops.”
The two NCP factions were set to announce their merger on February 8, before the untimely demise of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar came as a setback, The Indian Express reported on Friday. NCP legislators are set to meet at 2 PM on Saturday to choose Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra as the Legislature Party leader. She is likely to be sworn in as Deputy CM on Saturday evening.
The AICC leader said the NCP(SP)’s exit from the INDIA bloc might not be a setback, saying, “Someone’s departure can also have a positive effect on the alliance. Politics is too dynamic to make predictions.”
However, a Congress MP from Maharashtra said that if Sharad Pawar and his party leave the Opposition alliance, it would be a major loss. The NCP founder was one of the major orchestrators of Opposition unity in Maharashtra, where he helped form the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with the Congress and the Shiv Sena — subsequently, Sena (UBT) — in 2019.
“Supriya Sule is a good speaker in Parliament and commands great respect in Delhi and Maharashtra. What can I say about Sharad Pawar? His stature may have shrunk, but he is a stalwart who will always be an asset to whichever alliance or party he is with. If they leave, it will be a loss for the Opposition, but there is not much we can do for now,” said the MP from Maharashtra.
Another senior Congress leader from the state said the party had not reached out to the Pawars yet. “Within the state unit, we have already decided that there is no point in speaking to the Pawar family. Let’s see what they decide and do, and we will, accordingly, take steps in the coming weeks … Nobody knows the specifics of the merger.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express that this was not the time for such conversations. “They are in shock and grief. It is an internal issue of the party, and what is there to talk about at this point?”
Another senior Sena (UBT) leader also echoed Raut, saying, “There has been a death in the family just days ago. I don’t think it is correct to start a political conversation when the family is still grieving.”
A Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party, which is also a constituent of the INDIA bloc, said there was nothing the bloc or the Congress could do at the moment. “If there was some anger or discontent with one of the allies, we could have spoken to them. But that is not the case. What is happening there is the result of an internal aspect. The two families, the two factions merging, have nothing to do with the INDIA bloc. Then, how can we start a conversation with them?”
“Also, there is full autonomy for any party within a larger alliance. What a party does internally has nothing to do with an alliance,” he added.
The NCP (SP) has 8 Lok Sabha MPs and two Rajya Sabha MPs and following a merger, the combined entity will have 9 Lok Sabha MPs and five members in the Upper House, bolstering the NDA’s numbers in Parliament.
