Pawar Game of Thrones: A family, a party and the fight to retain control

On the surface, it looked like just another high-stakes political gathering in Mumbai on Tuesday (November 3) night. At Deogiri, the official residence of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, lawmakers of the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) assembled to voice growing discontent over the rising dominance of Sunetra’s sons, especially Rajya Sabha MP Parth Pawar.

Miles away, in Pune, where 86-year-old patriarch Sharad Pawar was being treated for pleuritic pain in a private hospital, the entire Pawar clan watched every update with unblinking attention. For the venerable Maratha strongman and his family, the core issue was simple: keep it all in the family.

Sunetra is resolved to forge her own path, continuing her late husband Ajit Pawar’s legacy while keeping a distance from Sharad Pawar. But a deeper anxiety runs through the clan. Sharad Pawar and his inner circle recognise a cold reality: the veterans who defected with Ajit have the tactical muscle and experience to easily manoeuvre Sunetra and her sons, Parth and Jay, out of the cockpit. Left unchecked, non-family loyalists could seize outright control of the NCP (AP).

Driven by the unwritten mantra that the battle belongs to the Pawars and no outsider should profit from it, the patriarch has quietly signalled to family members, allies, and even friendly voices in the BJP to resist any attempt by non-family heavyweights to take over the party.

The drama now unfolding has far more nuance and shadow than meets the eye: a classic tale of power, legacy, and tactical survival, in which bloodlines fight to keep control of their empire.

Roots of the split and a tragic turn

The conflict goes back to June 2023, when Ajit Pawar split the NCP, founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar. Backed by the BJP, Ajit and his supporters wanted the senior Pawar to join the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. When he refused, Ajit broke away, taking the party name, the symbol, and most of the MLAs.

In the 2024 assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 132 seats. Ajit’s faction won 41 and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena 57, allowing the alliance to retain power. Ajit joined the BJP-led government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as Deputy Chief Minister, along with the Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) was reduced to just 11 seats.

Also Read: NCP rules out merger with Sharad Pawar faction, backs Sunetra’s leadership

The trajectory changed drastically on the morning of January 28 this year, when Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in an aircraft crash in Pune district. Before the crash, Ajit had been in talks with his uncle about merging the two factions, a move senior leaders were unwilling to support.

After his sudden death, the defected leaders, led by Praful Patel, urged Sunetra to take the oath as Deputy Chief Minister within days, allegedly fearing the senior Pawar might regain control of the faction.

Succession battle and external pressures

“The drama happening right now has its roots simmering within the Ajit Pawar faction in 2026,” said a close aide of Sharad Pawar. “Immediately after Ajit Pawar’s death, a group of senior leaders wanted Sunetra to take charge as Deputy Chief Minister, with Praful Patel as National President and Sunil Tatkare as State President. But this plan was systematically scuttled once the senior Pawar activated all his political leverage,” the aide told The Federal.

Voices across party lines soon began insisting the NCP must not fall into “outside hands.” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray publicly declared that a Marathi man’s party should not go to a non-Marathi leader like Patel. Maharashtra BJP leaders, wary of sending a message that the party had stripped the Pawars of their own outfit, resisted anyone but Sunetra taking over. Patel later dismissed these moves as rumours, and Sunetra Pawar was elected National President of the NCP.

Also Read: After Ajit Pawar's death, is NCP merger possible? | Talking Sense With Srini

Political analyst Vijay Chormare says trouble has been brewing in the NCP (AP) for over a year. Sunetra gave her sons, Parth and Jay, full authority to run party operations, with Jay taking major decisions, including the appointment of party office-bearers.

That centralisation has sparked friction. According to NCP insiders, MLAs told Sunetra at Tuesday’s meeting that Jay also wants to control the functioning of ministers and party MLAs, and that his style is unacceptable because he does not consult party leaders before taking key decisions.

Seeking intervention, senior figures including Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Dhananjay Munde and Hasan Mushrif met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to formally express their unhappiness with how the party is being run under Sunetra and Parth Pawar.

A house divided

Speaking to the media in Mumbai, MLA Rohit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, who stayed with the senior Pawar after the split, offered a direct warning to his relatives.

“As a member of the Pawar family, I want to inform Sunetra kaki (aunty), Parth, and Jay that some leaders close to them and some in the BJP will try to create a rift between Jay and Parth, just as the BJP created differences between uncle and nephew, separating Ajit dada from Pawar saheb (Sharad Pawar),” said Rohit.

Political observer and scribe Vishwas Patil sees a broader existential crisis for the faction.

“Ultimately, the struggle is over who controls the NCP faction led by Sunetra. The BJP would like to keep away, at least publicly, and leave it to the NCP leaders. The BJP leadership is cautious that it should not appear like they took over the NCP. Some of the Ajit Pawar faction leaders are willing to join the BJP directly as they don’t want to go back to Sharad Pawar and have no confidence that Sunetra and her sons can lead them in the next polls. Some would like to go back to Sharad Pawar, and some have already approached Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena,” Patil told The Federal.

Also Read: After Ajit Pawar’s death, can NCP factions reunite or will succession reshape party?

He added that the NCP (AP) is on the verge of disintegration, and that with the ageing Sharad Pawar’s mobility now restricted, questions remain about the future of his own NCP unit, with daughter Supriya Sule at the helm.

Effort to project normalcy

Official statements after Tuesday night’s meeting sought to project normalcy. NCP state president Sunil Tatkare skirted the internal strife entirely and steered the narrative toward governance, framing the meeting around post-Diwali steps to address drought in several parts of the state.

“The party continues to work unitedly under Sunetra Pawar’s leadership. Some MLAs complained that they were not getting adequate funds from government departments. They also asked if the finance portfolio would be returned to the NCP,” Tatkare said.

For now, the Pawars are holding the line, at least in public. But with loyalists restless, the BJP watching from a careful distance and the patriarch recovering in hospital, the fight over who controls the NCP (AP), leave alone a potential merged NCPentity, is far from settled.