This is an interview from the evening of January 28, 2026. With Shreya Upadhaya of WION News, we were discussing the future of the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP and why they would resist a merger. Earlier that day, we had received the news of Ajit Pawar’s death in a plane crash.
At this sombre hour, Sunetra Pawar, the late Ajit Pawar's wife, has been sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The tragedy has given the state its first woman deputy in the top office. The episode is a quiet reminder that personal tragedy and loss must take a back seat in public life and politics.
Congress camp commentators are upset about Sunetra Pawar's elevation, questioning the dynastic politics. But deep within, they are upset about the merger that did not happen, as it would have brought Sharad Pawar back in the game, along with his daughter Supriya Sule.
A party is as good as the last election it fought, and that tells you how strong the NCP-SP is. No reason for 40-odd MLAs of the Ajit Pawar faction to have a party merger. It's a new government. Why rock the boat? You'll have all sorts of turmoil around 2029, though.
The vote share of the Sharad Pawar faction was 2 percentage points greater than the Ajit Pawar faction in the 2024 Assembly Elections. However, Sharad Pawar, contesting 80-odd seats, managed to win only 10. To add insult to injury, the local body elections, conducted along with the BMC elections, saw the senior Pawar humbled in several of his bastions.
From the Assembly to the municipalities, across Maharashtra, it was a Devendra Fadnavis show. Fadnavis has both the Home and Finance portfolios now. Post-2022, his political engineering and rise have been surreal. A leader to look forward to in the 2030s. A potential Prime Minister candidate in the mid-2030s?
The elevation of a new deputy in the CMO renders the question of the NCP merger futile. Sharad Pawar had a lot to gain from the merger, but Mrs Pawar has gone for the top office in the state, while her Rajya Sabha seat is expected to be forwarded to one of her sons.
In this episode of Bhau-Bahu-Beti politics, a three-time Chief Minister, hailed as Chanakya in the usual lobbies for no good reason, has been denied an opportunity to engineer a comeback. Good luck to Madam Pawar.
