NCP merger talks on track despite Ajit Pawar’s death

The proposed merger of two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions, each headed by Ajit Pawar, who was killed in a plane crash two days ago, and his uncle Sharad Pawar, is “very much on course”, with talks reaching an “advanced stage” even before the deputy chief minister’s death, sources said.

However, the merger will



also bring a change in power dynamics as the NCP (SP) camp believes that veteran leader Sharad Pawar will now naturally resume a “central role” in guiding the unified cadre, while the ruling NCP is keen on proposing late Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP, for the post of deputy CM to maintain the family’s political legacy, they said.