Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) working president and Baramati MP Supriya Sule on Thursday, 12 November 2026, categorically shut the door on any merger between the two NCP factions, stating that the question was settled for her the moment her brother, the late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, passed away. The statement brings a formal halt — at least from the NCP (SP) side — to weeks of intense political speculation in Maharashtra.

Sule's Categorical Denial

'No proposal regarding merger has been received by us,' Sule told reporters, leaving no ambiguity about her party's position. In an emotional addition, she said: 'My brother is gone, and on that very day, the subject of the merger ended for me. I have not received any proposal, so I have no information about what merger is being discussed. No one has spoken to me about this.'

Sule acknowledged that Ajit Pawar had initiated reunion talks before his passing, pointing to a 17 January 2026 video of a conversation between the siblings at Govindbaug in Baramati, which she noted was already in the public domain. However, she maintained that his death brought that process to a permanent halt.

What Triggered the Speculation

The merger rumour mill had been running at full speed over the past week, driven by a sequence of high-profile developments. NCP Maharashtra president Sunil Tatkare had stated publicly that merger talks were actively underway while Ajit Pawar was alive and would have materialised by February had it not been for his untimely death in a plane crash.

Further fuel was added when Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Sharad Pawar during the veteran leader's recent hospitalisation to enquire about his health. Two days later, senior NCP leader Praful Patel paid a visit, and MP Parth Pawar was subsequently seen at Sharad Pawar's Mumbai residence, 'Silver Oak', on two consecutive days — developments that many in Maharashtra's political circles read as backchannel signalling.

Adding to the intrigue, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, when asked about reunification prospects in Pune on Wednesday, stopped short of a direct denial, saying: 'As time comes, you will all come to know about everything' — a remark that only deepened political conjecture.

Sule Dismisses Cross-Faction Visits

Sule sought to downplay the significance of recent visits by rival-faction leaders to Sharad Pawar, arguing they were routine rather than politically loaded. 'Even after the split, several MLAs, ministers, and leaders have continued to visit Pawar Saheb. There is nothing new or unusual about such courtesy calls,' she said.

When pressed on reported meetings between certain NCP leaders and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Sule declined to engage. 'Who meets whom and for what reason is their personal and internal matter. I will not comment on it,' she asserted.

What It Means for Maharashtra Politics

The NCP split of 2023 remains one of the most consequential ruptures in Maharashtra's political history, dividing the party founded by Sharad Pawar between his faction — NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) — and the ruling faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar, which is part of the Mahayuti alliance alongside the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. With Ajit Pawar's death and Sule now drawing a firm line, any reunification — once seen as plausible under Ajit's initiative — appears structurally more difficult than before.

Notably, the NCP (SP) has not foreclosed the possibility of future political realignments under other circumstances; Sule's statement is specifically a rejection of the current merger framing. How the ruling faction's leadership responds, and whether Sunetra Pawar's cryptic remarks point to a unilateral overture, will shape Maharashtra's coalition dynamics in the months ahead.