NCP meeting turns on BJP as Bhujbal says prepare for all 288 seats

The Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar turned its fire on its own ally on Tuesday evening, as leaders at a meeting at the Devgiri bungalow in Mumbai called the BJP’s stand on the finance portfolio a betrayal.

According to party sources, the BJP, the senior partner in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, has told Sunetra Pawar that she must go to Delhi and meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah if she wants the finance department. The portfolio was held by her late husband, Ajit Pawar, and now sits with Chief Minister Fadnavis. Sunetra Pawar told the meeting she had raised it with Fadnavis and got no positive response.

‘Contest all 288 seats’

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal went further. “There is no certainty about what the BJP will do in the 2029 elections,” he said, and urged the party to prepare to contest all 288 seats on its own. He also attacked the ongoing Special In-depth Revision of Maharashtra’s electoral roll. “SIR being implemented at present is in the interest of only a particular party,” he said, meaning the BJP.

Old rift in the open

The meeting also laid bare the NCP’s internal feud. Parth Pawar, Sunetra Pawar’s elder son, walked out when Sunil Tatkare began speaking. Tatkare and Praful Patel had recently complained to NCP founder Sharad Pawar that Parth treated them with disrespect.

“Why should only Praful Patel and I be the target of criticism?” Tatkare asked. He said the two had helped hand the party to Sunetra Pawar and kept it together after Ajit Pawar’s death, but no other leader stood up for them. Patel was in Mumbai but stayed away from the meeting.

The BJP has not responded publicly. Whether Sunetra Pawar takes the road to Delhi will decide how long the strain stays inside the alliance.