NCP leaders express discontent in core committee meeting after talks with Amit Shah

In a core committee meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar called on Monday evening (November 2, 2026), senior leaders are learnt to have expressed discontent about the style of the party’s internal functioning. The meeting lasted three hours and will be followed by a meeting of all elected legislators of the party on Tuesday (November 3, 2026).

On Sunday night (November 1, 2026), six senior NCP leaders met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and are learnt to have informed him about their unhappiness with the party’s functioning under the leadership Sunetra Pawar, who is the national president of the NCP, and her son, Parth Pawar.

The leaders who met Mr. Shah are Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Hasan Mushrif, and Dilip Walse Patil, a source said. They were given an appointment to meet the BJP leader without Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar.

“There was no discussion about a merger [of the NCP with the Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP)]. A merger with NCP-SP is not in the picture. What happened during the delimitation Bill debate is behind us. The meeting with Mr. Shah was specifically about the issues in the NCP. [Regarding] the way the party is being run in an authoritarian manner at present, hampering the party’s strength,” an NCP source aware of the discussion during the closed-door meeting with Mr. Shah told The Hindu on Monday (November 2, 2026).

“The Union Home Minister was already aware of the issues. The message to us was very clear. ‘Mend your ways, improve your party,’ is what was hinted to us,” top sources said.

During the NCP core committee meeting at Ms. Pawar’s residence, committee members did not mince their words while expressing their disagreements, sources told The Hindu.

Most of the six NCP leaders who met Mr. Shah are veterans with years of experience as Ministers and strong popular support. Two of them had recently called for introspection within the party after its dismal performance in the Legislative Council elections.

After the sudden demise of NCP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a helicopter crash early this year, his son and political novice, Parth Pawar, had unofficially taken the reins of the party. This has caused resentment and bad blood in the party. Senior leaders have criticised his style of functioning as “authoritarian”. His political inexperience has only added to the discontent among senior leaders, who have been excluded from all key decisions in the party.

“If they (Parth Pawar and Sunetra Pawar) don’t change their way of functioning, the senior party leaders are considering charting their own way. They are not left with much of a choice, considering the unilateral decisions being taken in the party, which are completely authoritarian in nature. None of the senior leaders have been consulted for any important decision. They are unhappy about it,” a senior NCP leader told The Hindu.

Sunil Tatkare, who was one of the leaders who met Mr. Shah and is also the Maharashtra State president of the NCP, spoke to reporters after the core committee meeting and denied reports of differences within the party. However, hinting at disgruntlement, he said, “We have all worked under Sharad Pawar and later under Ajit Pawar. We have seen a particular working style and followed an organisational structure. We have believed in collective leadership, and have followed a process to take decisions. We have all worked under that system. We are now seeing how to strengthen the party under Sunetra Pawar’s leadership,” Mr. Tatkare said.

Sources in the BJP, which leads the ruling alliance in the State that includes the NCP, had earlier indicated that they wanted not only the NCP and the NCP-SP to merge, but also for the families to unite. On Monday, BJP leaders said they would not leave Sunetra Pawar’s side. “The primary contention is against Parth Pawar, against his style of functioning and his way of taking decisions,” a senior BJP leader said.

The NCP tried to downplay the senior leaders’ meeting with Mr. Shah. NCP national spokesperson Umesh Patil termed media reports of differences within the party as mischievous.

Sunetra Pawar and Parth Pawar had met Mr. Shah a few days ago. “During that meeting, Ms. Sunetra Pawar had herself informed Mr. Shah that a delegation of the party’s senior leaders would be meeting him,” Mr. Patil said.

The party has now called for a meeting of all elected representatives on Tuesday (November 3, 2026) to discuss the issues that party leaders and cadres should focus on.

In the recent legislative council elections held in Maharashtra, the NCP lost to the NCP-SP, with the latter winning two seats, while the former did not win a single one. The election results, after which some NCP leaders had called for introspection, form the background of the latest political developments in Maharashtra.