Tatkare meets Sharad Pawar after senior leaders omitted from NCP’s list to EC | Mumbai News

The names of Patel, Tatkare, Bhujbal and Patil, however,  appear only in a 22-member national working committee list, raising questions over whether the omissions reflected deeper tensions within the party.

Late Monday, Sunetra Pawar issued a clarification on X, saying the lists being circulated online contained “mistakes” and that corrections would be made soon.

The clarification, however, did little to stop speculation around a possible shift in the party’s internal power structure following the death of then party chief Ajit Pawar in an aircraft crash on January 28 this year. Since then, Sunetra Pawar has taken charge of both the party organisation and the Deputy Chief Minister’s post.

Over the past few months, there has been growing discussion within political circles about differences between the Pawar family and senior leaders such as Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare over the party’s organisational control and future direction.

MP Supriya Sule took a swipe at the development, recalling the importance leaders like Patel and Tatkare enjoyed in the undivided NCP under Sharad Pawar.

“This is their internal party matter. But when the two NCP factions were together, Praful Patel’s name would always come immediately after Pawar saheb’s. Sometimes our names may not have featured, but his place in the leadership was always fixed. First Pawar saheb, then Prafulbhai, then Tatkare, followed by leaders like us, Bhujbal, Walse Patil and Jayant Patil,” Sule said.

NCP (SP) leader Eknath Khadse was more direct. “Names are not omitted from such lists by mistake. They are included deliberately and removed deliberately. There is no question of this happening accidentally,” he said.

Chhagan Bhujbal, meanwhile, reacted cautiously and avoided detailed comment. “I will have to look into it. I do not think it is appropriate to discuss internal party matters in public,” he said.

Not a first

This is not the first time signs of unease within the party have surfaced. On March 10, cracks within the NCP had become visible after Sunetra Pawar wrote to the Election Commission asking it to treat an earlier communication dated January 28, the day Ajit Pawar died, as “null and void”.

The move was widely interpreted as her disagreement with amendments to the party constitution submitted on February 16, which gave equal powers to the national president and the working president. Praful Patel is now the working president.

At that time, sections within the party viewed the constitutional amendments as an attempt by Patel to consolidate organisational control, while Sunetra Pawar’s communication to the Election Commission was seen as an effort to reassert authority over the party structure and curb the influence of senior leaders like Patel and Tatkare.

Neither Patel nor Tatkare commented on Tuesday.  However, both were seen with Sunetra Pawar at Guwahati to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Tatkare meets Pawar

After his meeting with Sharad Pawar at his Silver Oak residence in Mumbai, Tatkare denied any political significance to it and said the visit was just to inquire about senior Pawar’s health.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tatkare said, “I had gone only to inquire about Sharad Pawar saheb’s health. There was no political discussion between us. For the past several days, Pawar saheb’s health was not good and hence I had sought time to meet him.”

Sharad Pawar had recently undergone treatment at Breach Candy Hospital.“I had gone to Guwahati for the swearing-in ceremony of the Assam Chief Minister and I will again be travelling tomorrow. Today was the only time available to meet Pawar saheb,” Tatkare said.

The senior leader also dismissed speculation linking the meeting to the controversy over the party’s national executive list. “The work we are doing under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar will continue. This meeting has absolutely no connection with the national executive list. Sunetra Pawar herself has already tweeted on the issue,” he said.

New gen vs seniors

The latest controversy has further brought to the fore the growing unease between the new generation of Pawars and the NCP’s senior leadership, many of whom were considered close associates of the late Ajit Pawar. Over the past few months, Sunetra Pawar’s increasing reliance on her sons Parth and Jay for key organisational decisions has reportedly caused discomfort within the party, especially among senior leaders such as Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare.

Parth Pawar’s growing influence in the party structure has particularly not gone down well with sections of the old guard, who view the younger Pawars as politically inexperienced despite their rapid rise within the organisation after Ajit Pawar’s death.