‘A premeditated plan’: Rohit Pawar alleges internal conspiracy to seize NCP control weeks after Ajit Pawar’s death | Mumbai News
3 min readMar 25, 2026 03:57 PM IST
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar Wednesday alleged that a group of leaders wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) claiming changes to the party constitution to vest sweeping powers in a working president, and Sunetra Pawar later asked the poll body to disregard any such correspondence during the transition period after Ajit Pawar’s demise.
Addressing a press conference at the legislative building campus, while showing the letters, Pawar said, “Within just 18 days of Ajit Pawar’s death; Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and Brijmohan Srivastava wrote to ECI on February 16, fraudulently claiming that the party constitution had been amended and sought that all powers be handed to the working president, who was Praful Patel”.
“Neither Sunetra Pawar nor Parth Pawar was taken into confidence. No legislators were told about this. After becoming national president, Sunetra Pawar learnt of this and wrote to ECI requesting that any correspondence between January 28 and when she became the party president should not be taken into consideration.”
Recalling the sequence of statements by Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal, where he first asserted that Praful Patel had become party president and later termed it a mistake, Pawar alleged there had been a premeditated plan among certain leaders to wrest control of the party. “Patel and Tatkare wanted to take control of the party,” he said, adding that instructions were issued by both of them not to raise the issue of Ajit Pawar’s accident during the ongoing Budget session of the Maharashtra Assembly.
He further alleged that certain BJP leaders, along with Patel and Tatkare, exerted pressure to stall a proposed press conference by Jay Pawar, Ajit Pawar’s younger son.
Referring to his meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rohit said he was advised to file a First Information Report in a state where he could get justice, and a Zero FIR was subsequently registered in Karnataka. “Now that the FIR has been transferred to Maharashtra, we expect that the investigation will take place,” he said.
Demanding a criminal investigation, Pawar questioned whether the entire episode, from the alleged letters to attempts to control the party, was part of a larger conspiracy.
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He also raised suspicions about an alleged attempt to conduct “black magic” or suspicious rituals outside Ajit Pawar’s residence prior to his death, possibly involving a self-styled godman from Nashik. He also asked whether the January 28 plane crash was truly an accident or something more sinister, adding that discussions and inquiries were ongoing.
