Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) chief and veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Saturday ruled out joining forces with his nephew Ajit Pawar’s faction, saying he would never support
a BJP-led alliance.
His remarks came after Sharad and Ait Pawar were seen together for the engagement ceremony of the former’s grandson, Yugendra Pawar, at the residence of Yugendra’s fiancée, Tanishka Kulkarni, in Mumbai.
Yugendra is the son of Shrinivas Pawar, the younger brother of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The engagement ceremony saw attendance from the prominent members of the Pawar family, including Supriya Sule, along with her husband and two children.
The NCP split after Ajit Pawar’s 2023 rebellion, when he decided to join the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. This cast doubts over the strength of the Pawar family ties. This was further tested in the 2024 assembly elections, where Yugendra was defeated by his uncle Ajit Pawar in the Baramati constituency, and Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra was defeated by her sister-in-law Supriya Sule.
Earlier, in June, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, Rohit Pawar, had stoked speculations over a possible merger of the party with Ajit Pawar’s faction, saying that Supriya Sule was “entrusted” to take a final call on the matter.
However, Sharad Pawar quickly shot down rumours of joining hands with his nephew’s NCP faction, saying he could not join hands with someone allied with the BJP. “We cannot join hands with those who have joined hands with BJP. We will take along only those who believe in the ideology of Gandhi, Shahu, Phule and Ambedkar,” he said at an event.
Sharad Pawar On India’s Foreign Policy
Meanwhile, the NCP-SP on Saturday also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central government over India’s foreign policy and growing tensions with neighbours.
“If you look at the map of India, Pakistan is against us, Nepal is angry with us, Bangladesh is angry with us, Sri Lanka is angry with us. All our neighbours are moving away from us. PM Modi should not ignore this. He should pay attention to improving relations with them,” he said.
He also criticised US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods. “This is an attempt to pressurise us… I do not want to say today that diplomacy has failed… Nobody has control over Trump. He does whatever comes to his mind. Not much attention should be paid to him,” he added.
