The party, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, split in July 2023 when his nephew The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is once again at a crossroads, with speculation growing over a possible merger between its two factions.
The meeting took place without party president Sunetra Pawar and her sons, Parth and Jay, HT reported earlier. Chhagan Bhujbal, who had switched allegiance to Pawar, was rewarded with the post of deputy chief minister. Despite staking a claim to the chief minister’s post, the party eventually chose to cede it by taking five additional ministerial berths in the coalition government. The development resulted in the emergence of two rival NCP factions, one led by Ajit Pawar and the other by Sharad Pawar. others denied that a merger was discussed While some leaders reportedly favoured exploring a reunion with Sharad Pawar’s faction.
June 10, 1999: Following a fallout with then Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the issue of foreign-born leadership, Sharad Pawar split from the Congress and founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). 1999: The NCP joined hands with the Congress to form a coalition government in Maharashtra following the assembly elections. 2004: NCP emerged as the single-largest party in the Maharashtra assembly elections by winning 71 seats. November 23, 2019: The first major attempt to split the NCP took place when Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP and took oath as Deputy chief minister in a surprise early-morning swearing-in ceremony following the assembly elections. However, unable to secure the support of enough NCP MLAs, his coup failed and he resigned on November 26, bringing the short-lived BJP-Ajit Pawar government to an end. November 2019: With the BJP’s government formation attempt thwarted, Sharad Pawar stitched together a three-party alliance comprising the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena, which came to be known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The government headed by Uddhav Thackeray, eventually collapsed in June 2022 following a rebellion within the Shiv Sena, forcing Thackeray to resign as chief minister. July 2, 2023: The NCP split became official when Ajit Pawar broke away with the support of 40 party MLAs and joined the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government as deputy chief minister.
The report said some senior leaders were unhappy with the party’s functioning and Parth Pawar’s growing influence.
