Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stayed careful on Saturday as talk of a Nationalist Congress Party reunion picked up again.
Both factions are independent parties, he told reporters in Nagpur, and the decision will be theirs. Should they consider such a step, the NDA's constituent parties would be consulted, he added.
"Whatever decision they wish to take will be theirs. However, since they are constituents of the NDA, they will certainly consult us," he said, according to PTI. Neither side had approached the BJP so far, he said, and the BJP had not been told of any talks between the two factions.
Speculation revived after NCP working president Praful Patel visited Sharad Pawar at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital, where the 85-year-old is being treated. A video of the interaction shows Pawar saying they would sit together and discuss the matter after November 10.
State NCP president Sunil Tatkare has said the two factions would have united had Ajit Pawar been alive, and that Ajit Pawar had discussed a merger with him. The NCP is now headed by Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut turned the question on the BJP, asking why it split Sharad Pawar's party if reunification was the goal now.
Fadnavis also rejected criticism of the state's decision on the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union, known as Gokul Dairy, denying that the government wants control of the cooperative. He said the two sides should settle their differences themselves.
The NCP split in 2023, when Ajit Pawar's group broke away and joined the state government. The Election Commission later recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the party and gave it the symbol, while Sharad Pawar's group works under the name NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar.
The merger talk matters in Maharashtra because the two factions share a cadre base and district-level office-bearers. A reunion would redraw the fight over zilla parishads, panchayats and cooperative institutions, where the NCP's strength has historically sat.
Neither side has made an official announcement. The party has also not given details of Sharad Pawar's health. Whether the two leaders actually sit down in the coming days is the next thing to watch.