Ajit Pawar's NCP faction tried to poach seven out of the eight MPs belonging to the Sharad Pawar camp last December, sources told The Indian Express.
According to the report, Ajit's faction proposed last December that all MPs from NCP (SP), except the father-daughter duo of Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, will be welcomed into the NCP camp and given appropriate roles.
However, details of the plot reached Sharad Pawar, who lashed out at Ajit loyalists for trying to engineer another mutiny in his camp, sources said.
A senior leader told the newspaper that Ajit Pawar's NCP offered Lok Sabha members from the rival camp an opportunity to make a switch, adding that the leaders rejected the proposal.
The report said that NCP wanted to leverage the poor performance of the NCP(SP) alliance in the Maharashtra elections as a strategy to attract members from the Sharad Pawar camp.
The senior Pawar reportedly called up leaders belonging to Ajit's camp and asked them to back off from making any such attempts.
The report comes amid speculations of re-union between the two NCP camps.
However, Sharad Pawar rejected the reports, saying there is no such move between the two parties or between him and Ajit.
Last week, NCP state president and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare addressed questions about the merger of the two factions.
“We are in an alliance with the NDA at the Centre and have secured a strong mandate in Maharashtra under Ajit Pawar’s leadership as part of the Mahayuti. Our agenda is clear. We will continue with the government and remain committed to the NDA and Mahayuti, with no rethinking on this matter,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of a reunion if the Sharad Pawar-led NCP changed its stance, Tatkare replied, “There are no conditions in politics, and I cannot answer such a question.”
Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar’s mother, Asha Pawar, visited Pandharpur and prayed for a reunion between the uncle-nephew duo.
“All disputes should end and Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar should reunite,” she said after visiting the Vithal-Rukmini temple, also praying for “all wishes of Ajit Pawar” to be fulfilled.
Ajit severed ties with his uncle in June 2023 when he, along with 40 MLAs, joined hands with the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and caused a vertical split in NCP.
In the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in November, the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar finished the last among the six major parties in the fray, winning only 10 of the 86 seats it contested.
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