NCP (SP) to join NDA only as part of ‘united NCP’: BJP says Mahayuti allies

Speculations that the NCP (SP) is on its way to join the NDA also gained ground after a photograph emerged of a meeting between Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. File. Credit: X/@mieknathshinde

Only a united Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is acceptable to the BJP as an NDA ally – that’s the message the BJP’s top leadership has conveyed to its allies in Maharashtra, amid speculation that the NCP (SP) (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar) may reconsider its support for the Delimitation Bill on certain terms and soften this broader all-terms talk.

According to a senior BJP official privy to the matter, the BJP high command is very clear that it does not want any uncertainty between its current allies – the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the NCP (led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar) – over their position in the NDA bloc. “There is no question of merging the NCP or any party within the BJP and if any other faction of those parties wants to join the NDA, it has to be a single entity which then joins the NDA,” the source said.

While the BJP is trying to garner cross-party support to shore up the numbers for the Delimitation Bill and the Women’s Reservation Act, the NDA is eyeing support from breakaway Trinamool MPs who have joined the Nationalist Civic Party of India (NCPI) and six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs who have said they have joined the Shinde-led Shi Eknath Sena. Eight members of the NKM (SP) would also come in handy in such a scenario.

Amidst all this, however, the NCP (SP) outreach has created a few jitters within the other faction of the NCP, which is now led by Maharashtra Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar. “It has been communicated that there will be no separate merger of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP with the NDA without merging the two factions,” the source added.

The main reason is that BJP’s ‘Madhav’ support base, consisting of OBC Mali, Dhangar and Vanjari communities, is at odds with NCP’s Maratha support base. “So a merger of the NCP with the BJP itself will be unacceptable to our support base, but as an ally of the NDA, it could work,” the source said.

Speculations that the NCP (SP) is on its way to join the NDA also gained ground after a photograph of a meeting between Deputy CM Shinde and NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar surfaced. This, BJP leaders say, was “perception management” by Mr Pawar. “To arrest any feeling that NCP (SP) MPs may have that the party was on the NDA’s poaching radar, a picture of Mr Pawar was released to suggest that all was well, that Sahab (referring to a senior Pawar) had the proceedings well in hand,” the source said.

In April 2026, the Government’s Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 – coupled with the Delimitation Bill, 2026 and the Union Territories (Amendment) Bill – failed in the Lok Sabha as it required a two-thirds majority to be passed by Parliament.

Apart from restarting the census-based delimitation process in 2011, the bills sought to operationalize 33% women’s reservation in legislatures by increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to around 850 seats and reorganizing constituencies, linking quotas for women with a new round of delimitation.

The passage of this Bill, and the BJP’s quest for sufficient numbers to ensure its passage, has thrown the cat among the pigeons in the volatile situation prevailing in Maharashtra politics at present, which the BJP is trying to manage by being clear about its position.

Published – 17 Jul 2026 17:13 IST