NCP leaders express displeasure at core committee meeting after meeting with Amit Shah

At a core committee meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) convened by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Monday evening (November 2, 2026), senior leaders are learned to have expressed dissatisfaction with the style of internal functioning of the party. The meeting lasted three hours and will be followed by a meeting of all the party’s elected legislators on Tuesday (November 3, 2026).

On Sunday evening (November 1, 2026), six senior NCP leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and are learned to have informed him of their displeasure with the party’s functioning under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP national president, and her son Partha Pawar.

The leaders who met Mr Shah are Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif and Dilip Walse Patil, the source said. They got a meeting with BJP leader without Sunetra Pawar and Partha Pawar.

“There has been no discussion of a merger (NCP with Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP)). A merger with NCP-SP is not in the picture. What happened during the delimitation bill debate is behind us. The meeting with Mr. Shah was specifically about the problems in the NCP. (As for how the party is currently run, an authoritarian NCP source is aware of the party’s strength.) discussion during the closed-door meeting with Mr. Shah he told The Hindu on Monday (November 2, 2026).

“The Union home minister was already aware of these issues. The message to us was very clear. ‘Mend your ways, improve your party’ is what was suggested to us,” senior sources said.

During the NCP core committee meeting at Ms. Pawar’s residence, committee members took no time in voicing their disagreements, sources told The Hindu.

Most of the six NCP leaders who met Mr Shah are veterans with years of experience as ministers and strong public support. Two of them recently called for introspection within the party after its dismal performance in the Legislative Council elections.

Following the sudden death of NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in a helicopter crash earlier this year, his son and political newcomer Parth Pawar has unofficially taken over the reins of the party. This created resentment and bad blood in the party. Senior leaders criticized his style of operation as “authoritarian”. His political inexperience only added to the discontent among senior leaders, who were excluded from all key decisions in the party.

“Unless they (Parth Pawar and Sunetra Pawar) change their modus operandi, senior party leaders are considering charting their own path. They have little choice, given the unilateral decisions being taken in the party, which are completely authoritarian in nature. None of the senior leaders have been consulted on any important decision. They are unhappy about it,” said a senior HinduCP leader.

Sunil Tatkare, who was one of the leaders who met Mr Shah and is also Maharashtra NCP president, spoke to reporters after the core committee meeting and denied reports of differences within the party. However, hinting at dissatisfaction, he said, “We all worked under Sharad Pawar and later Ajit Pawar. We saw a particular work style and followed the organizational structure. We believed in collective leadership and followed the decision-making process. We all worked in that system. Now we see how to strengthen the party under Sunetra Pawar,” Mr Tatkare said.

Sources in the BJP, which leads the ruling alliance in the state that includes the NCP, had earlier hinted that they not only want an NCP-NCP-SP merger but also family reunification. On Monday, BJP leaders said they would not leave Sunetra Pawar’s party. “The primary dispute is against Parth Pawar, against his style of functioning and his way of taking decisions,” the BJP leader said.

The NCP tried to downplay the meeting of the leaders with Mr Shah. NCP National Spokesperson Umesh Patil termed media reports of differences in the party as malicious.

Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar met Mr. Shah a few days ago. “During this meeting, Ms. Sunetra Pawar herself informed Mr. Shah that a delegation of party leaders would meet him,” Mr. Patil said.

The party has now called a meeting of all elected representatives on Tuesday (11/03/2026) to discuss issues that party leaders and cadres should focus on.

In the recent Legislative Council elections held in Maharashtra, the NCP lost to the NCP-SP, with the latter winning two seats while the former did not win a single one. The election results, after which some NCP leaders called for introspection, form the backdrop to the latest political developments in Maharashtra.

Published – 03 Nov 2026 01:08 IST