(From left) Sharad Pawar, Sunetra Pawar and Supriya Sule
Credit: PTI File Photos
Mumbai: After the sudden demise of Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in Baramati, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction got a big shock when they were headed for a merger.
The NCP is faced with many questions now: Who will succeed Ajit Pawar as the party president? Who will succeed Ajit Pawar as the State's Deputy Chief Minister?
Ajit Pawar held the portfolios of Finance, Planning, Excise and Youth Affairs, which as per the norms is now with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after his deputy's demise.
The NCP has to call a legislature party meeting and convey to the BJP leadership about their leader and allocation of portfolios.
Besides, who will handle the merger of the NCP and the NCP (SP)?
This is important as the NCP is part of the BJP-led Mahayuti-NDA coalition while the NCP (SP) belongs to the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Congress-led INDIA bloc.
The answer perhaps lies with the Pawar family and their close aides.
Pawar-family patriarch NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar will have the biggest say in the developments that will come.
Over the past few months, the uncle-nephew had patched up, with Ajit Pawar publicly saying that the "family is together and all differences have been sorted out" and also rolled out the pilot for the merger in Pune by contesting the municipal elections together and deciding to contest the zilla parishad elections under the 'clock' symbol.
Following is the list of people of both sides who will matter the most:
Nationalist Congress Party
Sunetra Pawar
Sunetra Pawar (62) is the wife of late Ajit Pawar. She is a Rajya Sabha member, and the party had been keen for a ministerial berth for her in the Narendra Modi government.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Sunetra was fielded against NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule from the family seat of Baramati, however, the latter won the polls. Popularly called Sunetra Tai or Sunetra Vahini, she is the chairperson of the Baramati Textile Company and CEO of Environmental Forum of India.
She has been a think tank member of the World Entrepreneurship Forum in France since 2011, contributing to global discussions on sustainable development and entrepreneurship. Besides, she also serves as a trustee of Vidya Pratishthan, an educational institution founded by Sharad Pawar and controlled by the family.
Parth Pawar
Credit: X
Parth Pawar
Parth Pawar (35) is the elder son of Ajit Pawar. He had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Maval. He, however, lost by a margin of over two lakh votes to undivided Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne. He was the first from the Pawar family to have lost an election in a Legislative/Parliamentary body.
Since 2025, he is seen taking part in the higher-level decision-making of the party.
In January last year, questions were raised when he visited Gajanan Marne, a dreaded gangster from Kothrud area of Pune.
Recently, Parth had been in news when Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which he and his cousin Digvijay Patil are partners, purchased a nearly 43.26-acre plot — Survey No 88 (Mahar Watan land) — in Mouje Mundhwa adjacent to the prime locality of Koregaon Park in Pune for around Rs 300 crore with stamp duty waiver of around Rs 21 crore. The company paid just Rs 500 as stamp duty. Amadea Enterprises has proposed to build an IT park and data centre on the land. The market value of the piece of land has been pegged at Rs 1,800 crore.
Jay Pawar
Credit: X/ @Jaypawarspeaks
Jay Pawar
Jay Pawar (28) is the younger son of Ajit Pawar. Jay has carved his own path in business while maintaining close ties to his family’s political legacy, dividing his time between Mumbai and Baramati and visits abroad. Unlike his elder brother, Jay has not contested elections or formally entered political life. However, Ajit Pawar as well as the NCP leadership wanted some role in electoral politics. Jay Pawar's wife is Rutuja Patil. They married in December 2025 in a grand ceremony held in Bahrain. Rutuja is the daughter of Pravin Patil, the owner of ElevateEdge Consulting Group.
Praful Patel
Praful Patel (68) is one of the senior-most leaders of the country. He is the NCP working president. He has been a Lok Sabha member four times and Rajya Sabha member six times. He is mentored by NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and had a very close friendship with Ajit Pawar. Popularly known as Praful Bhai, commands tremendous respect within the Pawar family. Currently a Rajya Sabha member, he is the party's troubleshooter and is expected to play a major role in the NCP-NCP (SP) unification plan. In the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government under Manmohan Singh, he had been the Civil Aviation Minister. When the NCP split in June-July 2023, it was Patel who handled the legal intricacies and the battle with the Election Commission from behind the scenes as he knew the move of Pawar Senior very well. He is son of Congress leader Manoharbhai Patel. His father died when Praful was 13. He comes from the Gujarati community and runs the Ceejay Group. He is also a veteran sports administrator.
Sunil Tatkare
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Sunil Tatkare
Sunil Tatkare (70) was one of the closest aides and friends of Ajit Pawar. Currently, he is the NCP’s Maharashtra president and the Raigad MP. His daughter Aditi Tatkare is a Minister in the BJP-led Mahayuti government. As the Women and Child Development Minister, she has played a major role in the rolling out of the Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana. During the days of the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government, he had served as Minister handling portfolios like Finance, Energy, Water Resources, and Food and Civil Supplies.
Chhagan Bhujbal
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Chhagan Bhujbal
Chhagan Bhujbal (78) is one of the senior-most leaders of the NCP and is the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister in the Mahayuti government. He started with the Shiv Sena under late Balasaheb Thackeray and served as Mayor of Mumbai. He is a two-time MLA from Mazgaon in Mumbai and five-term MLA from Yeola in Nashik besides serving a term as an MLC. He joined the Congress when Sharad Pawar was at the helm of affairs and later followed him when the NCP was formed. He was twice Deputy Chief Minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government and was also part of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation. When Ajit Pawar split the NCP, he followed him. A veteran OBC leader, he is also the founder-president of All India Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad. He was one of the toughest competitors and an admirer of Ajit Pawar.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)
Sharad Pawar
Sharad Pawar (85) is the Pawar family patriarch and NCP (SP) supremo. The death of Ajit Pawar has shattered him. He had mentored Ajit Pawar over the years. A four-time former Maharashtra Chief Minister and three-term Union Minister having handled the Defence and Agriculture portfolios, he is one of the senior-most leaders, popularly revered as Saheb. Considered the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics, he is one of the respected politicians. As family and party, it was a clear line — that Ajit Pawar will look at Maharashtra affairs while daughter Supriya Sule will be the national face. When Ajit Pawar took control of the party and claimed the clock symbol, he was hurt. However, before the untimely death of Ajit Pawar, there was a patch-up between the uncle-nephew duo and a possible merger of NCP and NCP (SP) was on the cards.
Supriya Sule
Supriya Sule (56) is the daughter of Sharad Pawar and NCP (SP) working president. Popularly known as Supriya Tai, she is a one-time Rajya Sabha member and four-term Lok Sabha member from Baramati. She married Sadanand Sule in 1991. They have a son, Vijay, and a daughter, Revati. However, they are not into politics. Her performance in the Lok Sabha is considered very good. While she was hurt after the NCP split and distanced herself from Ajit Pawar, last year, the cousins buried all differences on the personal front. Though she contested the Lok Sabha elections against Sunetra Pawar, their relations were intact.
Jayant Patil
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Jayant Patil
Jayant Patil (62) is one of the seniormost and influential leaders in Maharashtra politics. He was the NCP Maharashtra president and NCP (SP) president. He is an eight-term MLA from Islampur. A powerful orator and excellent administrator, he had been a Minister in the erstwhile Democratic Front and Maha Vikas Aghadi governments. As the State’s Finance Minister, he had presented as many as 10 Budgets. In the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks when R R Patil had to resign, he was made the State Home Minister. Patil is very to all the leaders of all parties.
Shashikant Shinde
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Shashikant Shinde
Shashikant Shinde (62) is a senior leader and State NCP (SP) president. He is considered close to the leaders of the NCP, including the late Ajit Pawar. In the Democratic Front government, he had been the Water Resources Minister. A powerful orator, he had been an MLA and an MLC.