Swift Succession, Fading Reunion: Sunetra Pawar’s Trials in a Broken NCP

Sunetra Pawar promoted as national president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) marked a defining moment for the party. Her promotion was necessitated by the NCP’s worst crisis – the tragic death of her husband and the party’s then president Ajit Pawar in a private plane crash in January.A complete novice in politics, Sunetra Pawar now holds all three offices that Ajit Pawar held at the time of his death – Maharashtra deputy chief minister, NCP president and its leader in the legislature.

While the NCP moved quickly to fill three vacant key positions – a move aimed at preventing a leadership vacuum – the party now enters a critical transition phase. The tragedy comes as both factions of the national Republican Party are about to officially reunite.

So, now that there is a leader at the helm, does this close the door to a potential merger?Why NCP appointed new leader quicklyThe NCP’s speedy approach to filling vacant positions has drawn criticism. On January 31, three days after Ajit Pawar passed away, Sunetra Pawar took over two of the three roles he left behind. She was unanimously elected to a third position as NCP president on February 26, two days before the one-month anniversary of the fatal plane crash.According to political observers, some within the party feared that family patriarch Sharad Pawar, who co-founded the NCP in 1999 and led the party for 24 years, might reassert his influence over the party after the merger, prompting a rapid change in leadership. As the veteran leader himself revealed, he was not briefed on the decision, suggesting there may indeed be a strategic calculation behind the party’s rapid transition to a new leader.NCP reunion no longer feasible?The appointment of a new NCP chairman, the war of words that broke out after Ajit’s death and statements from both camps all point in the same direction: the merger is over.Sunetra Pawar has also tried to safeguard her position since taking office, often talking about her late husband and her commitment to realizing his vision for the country.“Ajit Pawar’s lifelong commitment saheb The development of Maharashtra and his tireless work for the people will always guide me,” she said after taking over as NCP leader.Sharad Pawar’s faction, known as NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), has been more explicit in ruling out the possibility of a reorganization, as indicated by a series of statements from their side.Ajit’s cousin Supriya Sule and nephew Rohit Pawar said the merger issue ended with his death. According to them, the matter is over and there is no need to discuss it further.

However, with the leadership issues resolved and a reorganization likely – at least for now – the NCP has two less problems to worry about.The merger that didn’t happen — and the failure of the citizens’ pollsIt is no surprise that the NCP factions are about to reunite, as revealed in the aftermath of the Baramati tragedy.Several developments have pointed to the possibility of a reunion.Despite political differences, the Pawar family remains united and its members are often seen together attending family gatherings. Then, ahead of the recent municipal elections in Maharashtra, the two groups even joined forces to campaign for several municipal corporations together. Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule themselves announced the partnership at a press conference.However, the electoral alliance failed to bear fruit – out of a total of 2,869 seats held in 893 wards and 29 municipal corporations, the NCP won 167 seats while the NCP (SP) bagged 36 seats. The results indicate a significant decline in the electoral influence of the Pawar family.How the NCP split into two partsAjit Pawar’s rebellion in July 2023 was not his first insurgency, but unlike the previous ones, this one was successful.In November 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the then United Party shiva sena With the latter demanding the chief ministership, he made a sudden and unexpected move: he was sworn in as deputy chief minister along with Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who was sworn in as chief minister.However, the government lasted only 80 hours and Pawar, the wily former chief minister of Maharashtra, ensured that all the defectors returned to the party. Having no choice, the nephew also returned and served as Deputy Chief Minister for the fourth time, this time in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP.

More than two years later, and nearly a year after the MVA government collapsed in June 2022, Ajit rebelled again, joining an alliance led by the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction that was ruling Maharashtra at the time. He was appointed deputy chief minister for the fifth time.This time, the split was held. The Election Commission of India later recognized Ajit Pawar’s faction as the “real” NCP, while the other faction was known as the NCP (SP).He returns for a sixth and final term following the coalition’s landslide victory in the November 2024 state assembly elections.What’s next for NCP?With no uncertainty either in terms of leadership or reunion, Sunetra Pawar can now focus on adapting to her new role, learning the political line from senior NCP leaders and gradually carving out her own space within the party organization.Currently a member of the Lok Sabha, she has six months to secure her election as a Maharashtra MLC or MLC and continue as deputy chief minister. The election is expected to be largely a formality as she is likely to contest from the Baramati Assembly constituency of Ajit and is widely expected to win by a wide margin.She will also face the challenge of strengthening the NCP in elections, especially given the party’s poor performance in the civic body elections. Even in Pune, where the Pawar family has significant influence, the party secured only 37 seats in the 165-member civic body, while the NCP (SP) fared even worse, winning just three seats. In the 128-member Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, also Pawar’s erstwhile stronghold, where the NCP won 37 seats, the NCP (SP) failed to open an account. Her task now is to live up to the family legacy and late husband’s contributions, balancing the weight of Pawar’s name while carving out her own space in the NCP and Maharashtra politics.