Maharashtra: Finance portfolio snub, internal rift test NCP’s unity

MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party is witnessing an internal tussle between the Sunetra-Parth Pawar and Praful Patel-Sunil Tatkare camps for control, even as allies BJP and Shiv Sena seem to be trying to cut the NCP down to size.

This week, a mid-rung NCP leader from Solapur joined the Shiv Sena, along with his supporters. On Friday, two NCP corporators in Pune publicly complained of how development funds allocated to them became nil after they raised questions against a BJP minister.

The party has been demanding the return of the finance ministry in Maharashtra, but it has not yet received a favourable response from the BJP that has controlled it since the death of NCP leader Ajit Pawar in January.


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These developments show how, in spite of being in power, the NCP is facing the heat from its two allies and the party leadership is unable to do anything about it as it grapples with an internal rebellion.

The tussle between the two camps means the NCP leadership has not been able to focus on other matters, said the party insiders. Patel and Tatkare are apparently at loggerheads with Sunetra Pawar as they are upset with the way Parth is functioning. “The party is actually rudderless as each faction is trying to shore up support against the other faction,” said an NCP leader. This, he said, explained the Solapur and Pune developments. Another senior NCP leader said that not just corporators but even MLAs from the NCP are in touch with the BJP as well as the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and may cross over to these parties closer to polls. “In the past whenever any MLA or party leader needed to get some work done in his constituency, he used to get in touch with Ajit Pawar who used to get it done as he was not just the finance minister but also had clout in the government…However, things are not the same now,” the NCP leader said. This, he said, was a reason for some party leaders to get in touch with the BJP and Shiv Sena, which helped them get funds and other works executed.

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Another sign of the NCP leadership’s diminishing clout is its inability to get back the finance ministry portfolio. During the government formation, the portfolio was given to Ajit Pawar, however after his death and since Sunetra Pawar was inexperienced, Fadnavis kept the portfolio with himself.