Congress, NCP (SP) hold merger talks amid Maharashtra opposition shake-up

Amid growing uncertainty within Maharashtra’s opposition camp, the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party are holding discussions over a possible merger, sources said. The move, if it materialises, could trigger a major political realignment in the state.

According to the sources, discussions are currently focused on the Maharashtra units of both parties, with the NCP (SP) leadership working on building internal consensus before moving ahead.

Once a broad agreement is reached at the state level, the final decision is expected to come from the top leadership of both parties in Delhi.

The possibility of a Congress-NCP (SP) merger had also been discussed before the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The discussions, however, were put on hold due to the election campaign.

The move comes at a time when the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is facing internal challenges and questions over its unity.

The alliance, comprising the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), has suffered setbacks in recent months, including a rebellion within Uddhav Sena after six MPs switched to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

At a recent MVA meeting in Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray openly questioned the alliance’s cohesion, asking, “We say we are together, but are we really?”

The fresh merger talks come 27 years after Sharad Pawar broke away from the Congress in 1999 to form the Nationalist Congress Party.

In 2023, however, his nephew Ajit Pawar split the NCP, leading a group of MLAs to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra.

The split resulted in both sides claiming the party’s legacy and political identity.

In May this year, Sharad Pawar’s faction had ruled out any possibility of a merger with Ajit Pawar’s group, maintaining that the two sides had taken different political paths.

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