NCP spokesperson Paranjpe slams merger talk after Ajit Pawar death

Mumbai, Feb 5 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Anand Paranjpe on Thursday said those who started talking about the merger of the rival NCP factions immediately after Ajit Pawar's death should clarify whether they want to join the BJP-led alliance.

The NCP was still mourning party president Pawar's death in an air crash, and had not recovered from the shock, he told reporters here.

"Even before the last rites were performed, who started the discussion on merger?" Paranjpe asked, while also indicating that the NCP was not ready to reconsider Ajit Pawar's 2023 decision to join the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.

"Those speaking about merger in haste should first make it clear whether they want to merge into another party, or into another alliance....they should clarify whether they intend to join the NDA or the Mahayuti government in the state," he said.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), which has said that Ajit Pawar was keen on the merger, is part of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.

Paranjpe, a former MP, also said the targeting of NCP working president Praful Patel, state chief Sunil Tatkare and Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar was unjustified. "At such a sensitive time, there cannot be anything more disgraceful than raising such doubts," he said.

Patel and Tatkare have been accused by their detractors of not wanting the merger.

The NCP remains firm on the decision taken by Ajit Pawar on July 2, 2023, to join the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, Paranjpe said.

On activist Anjali Damania's allegations against Parth Pawar in the Mundhwa land deal case, he said her allegations against several other political leaders have not withstood judicial scrutiny in the past, and she should wait as the investigation was still underway.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, who levels allegations every day, should rather advise his own party's leadership to arrest its decline, Paranjpe said, adding that Raut should not draw conclusions while an official inquiry is in progress.

A company owned by Parth Pawar is accused of purchasing government land worth hundreds of crores of rupees in Pune's upscale Mundhwa area illegally. The deal was later scrapped, and a case was registered against a co-owner of the company, government officials and others. Parth Pawar has not been made an accused. PTI

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