Sharad Pawar’s NCP removes all spokespersons

The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) on Tuesday removed all its spokespersons from their posts.

Until new appointments are made, party leaders Vidya Chavan and Mahesh Tapase will serve as the official spokespersons, said the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP in a social media post.

The development came after Shashikant Shinde, the party’s Maharashtra unit chief, began a statewide tour to review the functioning and organisational structure of the NCP(SP), reported The Indian Express.

Shinde also appointed Sushil Borde as president of the student wing, Vishal Wakadkar as youth wing chief and Ram Rathod as head of the teachers’ cell.

Speculations about merger

The organisational overhaul follows media reports in July that some leaders in the Sharad Pawar-led party were in favour of a tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.

The speculation intensified after leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction, which is part of the state’s ruling coalition, and the NCP(SP) held a meeting at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ residence.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP group is part of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance that includes Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction and the Congress.

Earlier in June, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said talks were underway between the Congress and the NCP(SP) about a merger.

In 2023, the NCP split into two groups when Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar, along with several party MLAs, joined Maharashtra’s Mahayuti coalition government comprising the BJP and the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde.

Written by Sneha. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.