Congress will negotiate only with Uddhav, Sharad Pawar: Prithviraj Chavan on Maharashtra merger buzz

New Delhi: The Congress will discuss alliance matters only with Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP)'s Sharad Pawar, and leave the decision on a "sub-alliance" to them, former Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has said amid speculation that the Thackeray cousins and the NCP factions may join hands.

Chavan, however, made it clear that if the NCP merger happens and if that party goes with the NDA, it would become difficult for the Congress to continue the alliance with them in Maharashtra.

In an interview with PTI, he dubbed the talk of coming together of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as a "family matter".

"If we go in an alliance (in the local body polls), we will have a seat sharing with the leaders of the alliance partners, that is Mr. Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Mr. Sharad Pawar of the NCP (SP). Now, with whom they do a sub-alliance is entirely their situation," Chavan, a senior Congress leader, said "If the person is completely against the values that the Congress stands for, then we will raise some objections; otherwise, it is an internal family matter and how they do seat adjustments in case we go with an alliance (in the local body polls)," he said.

Asked specifically about Raj Thackeray, Chavan told PTI, "Our experience is that he is a senior leader in Maharashtra politics. He is a big crowd puller; whenever he has a public meeting, there are huge crowds. But that doesn't get translated into votes, and that is why he has no presence in the current Maharashtra assembly." There is a view that former Shiv Sena votes will combine together and they may get some benefit, he said on the positives of the Thackeray cousins coming together.

"We will only negotiate with Mr. Uddhav Thackeray and Mr. Sharad Pawar," Chavan asserted.

For the first time in 20 years, estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj Thackeray will share the stage on July 5 at a joint "victory" rally organised by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS to celebrate the rollback of the contentious government resolutions (GRs) on the three-language policy.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, led by Uddhav and Raj, respectively, on Tuesday issued a joint public invitation for the "Marathi Vijay Diwas" event to be held at the NSCI Dome in Worli.

The joint invitation, titled 'Marathicha Awaaz', is the first official announcement of the event. It doesn't carry a party symbol or flag, except a graphic image of Maharashtra. It mentions the names of Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray as hosts.

Raj Thackeray, nephew of late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, resigned from the party in January 2006, apparently due to differences with Uddhav.

During an interview a few months ago, Raj Thackeray said uniting in the interests of "Marathi manoos" was not difficult, while Uddhav also indicated his willingness to join hands with his cousin.

On the buzz that there could be a merger between the NCP factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, Chavan said, "Exactly, the same answer, it is a family matter. It is for them to decide who merges into which group and who becomes the leader of the merged party." "It is not very easy because the grassroots elected legislators and parliamentarians have a view that for development work to be done, there should be an alliance with the ruling party so that we get some benefit for the nursing of our constituencies while other people are saying 'we cannot align with A, B or C when we fought so hard'," Chavan said.

He, however, added that he does not know what will happen with NCP's case, whether they will come together or not, who will merge into which party, who will be the leader in case of a merger or will individual units directly join the NDA.

"So, all options are open, and it is for them to take a call. I don't think we will be asked for advice, but we are watching the situation. If they become part of the NDA, then it will become difficult to continue the alliance in Maharashtra," he said on the speculation over the NCP merger.

The Nationalist Congress Party, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, split in July 2023 when Ajit Pawar, along with several other leaders, joined the BJP-led government in Maharashtra. Ajit was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.

The party name and its clock symbol were given to the Ajit Pawar faction, while the one headed by the former Union agriculture minister was christened NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).

In a veiled reference to his estranged nephew Ajit Pawar amid a buzz about the reunion of the NCP factions, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar had last month said that those who indulged in opportunistic politics by joining hands with the BJP can not be "encouraged".