The Opposition NCP (SP) has dismissed reports of a possible merger of the two Nationalist Congress Party factions as “completely false”, even as senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said any talks were unlikely to yield results until party president Sunetra Pawar took a decision.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also said there was no discussion on the NCP merger issue during his meeting with Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar on Saturday.
Speculation about the merger has been doing the rounds since the start of this month after NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar was hospitalised and leaders from the Sunetra Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, including Praful Patel and Parth Pawar, visited him.
In a statement made in Nagpur on Saturday, NCP (SP) spokesperson Pravin Kunte Patil alleged that merger speculation reports were being deliberately circulated in the media to divert the people's attention from pressing issues including the drought, inflation, unemployment, alleged vote theft, and irregularities in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examinations.
He added, "Our official stand is that those who wish to merge should join our party."
NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said earlier on Saturday that the merger discussions ended for her after the death of then NCP president Ajit Pawar in January this year, and she had not received any communication from the other side on the issue.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Bhujbal, said "No matter how many discussions take place, they will not yield any results until Sunetra Pawar takes a decision on the matter."
He was asked whether the merger issue was being raised more frequently by his party leaders while Sule was not actively participating in such discussions.
CM Fadnavis in Nagpur speaking on the alleged discussions of merger said that there was no discussions of merger with him, he would have known if it had happened and the discussions are only heard in the media.
He also said, "Sunetra tai had come to me regarding government work. There was no discussion anywhere about any merger. I will once again say that had there been any discussion regarding a merger, they (ally NCP) would have spoken to us (BJP) as we are together in power."
Asked about the need for NCP (SP)'s support in Parliament on the issue of delimitation, Fadnavis said Baramati MP Sule had clearly stated that NCP (SP) will fully support delimitation if it brings about a uniform 50 per cent increase in Lok Sabha seats across all states.
Meanwhile, on Saturday banners questioning whether the air crash in which Ajit Pawar died was an accident or a conspiracy appeared in Mumbai and Pune had emerged.
Bhujbal speaking on the issue, said that Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar Ajit Pawar's wife had clearly stated that it would be appropriate to comment only after reports from all the investigating agencies were received.
(With inputs from PTI)