Supriya Sule and Ajit Pawar
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: With Pawar-family patriarch and NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s photo with folded hands in the backdrop, Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule shared a political platform in Pune for the first time since the acrimonious split of June-July 2023 — a development that is being seen as the first step towards a possible reunification of the two parties in the months and years to come.
Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister and NCP president and Supriya Sule, the NCP (SP) working president, released the joint manifesto for Pune, on Saturday.
The two parties — who are on different sides of India’s larger political spectrum — are jointly contesting the municipal corporation elections in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which are scheduled on January 15, 2026.
The Pawar family, which hails from Baramati, calls the shots in the Pune district.
Calling a truce in Pune by the two factions signals a major step in the Maharashtra politics, which is divided between the Maha Yuti-NDA comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP (SP).
In the civic polls involving 29 municipal corporations, the ideological lines have blurred in Maharashtra and in Pune, the NCP-NCP (SP) has come together to keep hold in their family fort.
Leaders from both sides have joined hands to prevent splitting to avoid any benefit to the BJP, which currently eyes a second consecutive term in the Pune civic body.
With the Pawar cousins — Ajit Pawar, who is the Baramati MLA and Supriya Sule, who is the Baramati MP — in one frame, there is enthusiasm in the two groups of the NCP.
“The cousins seen together again on the party platform after many days has instilled new energy and fresh enthusiasm in the hearts of the workers. The coming together is a message of unity and hopes for the future,” a source close to the Pawar-family, told DH.
"The workers of both the parties want to unite. The two NCPs are together now (in Pune) all tensions in our family have ended," Ajit Pawar said in a television interview on Friday.
Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, however, said: "There has not been any discussions whether this alliance will continue.”
"Both the NCP and NCP (SP) believe in the Shiv-Shahu-Pune-Ambedkar ideology and are inclusive in nature. However, the final call rests with Pawar Saheb," a political observer said.