Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday telephoned NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar to enquire about his health following the veteran leader’s discharge from Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic, and told him that his daughter Supriya Sule was “ready” to take care of the country along with him, according to Pawar’s close aide Vitthal Maniyar.
“This morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called to enquire about Saheb’s health. Supriya is ready now. Supriya and we will take care of the country. You keep working.
He spoke to Saheb with great affection and respect and said, ‘Saheb, please take complete rest. You rest; this is my request.'” Maniyar told reporters in Pune. Pawar replied that he was resting and had no worries about the country, Maniyar said. “Saheb told him, ‘I am resting, and when all of you are there, I have no worries about the country. Saheb thanked him for enquiring about his health,” Maniyar said.
The NCP, however, sought to publicly shut the door on a merger after a core committee meeting in Mumbai on Monday. “We will work collectively under the leadership of (Deputy CM and NCP chief) Sunetra Pawar. Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde is the other deputy chief minister, complicating matters within the Mahayuti alliance.
After Ajit died in a plane crash in January 2026, his wife Sunetra became deputy chief president in his place, and talks of a merger of the two factions stalled. The question of reunification has hung over the Pawar family since Ajit Pawar, who had seized control of the original NCP after rebelling against his uncle in June-July 2023, died in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28. Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister on January 31 in the government led by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.
READ | NCP Meet Amid BJP ‘Concern’: What Party Leader Said On “Rift” Buzz The call comes days after a fresh round of churn in the NCP main faction, which Sharad’s nephew Ajit Pawar aligned with the BJP-led state government in 2023 when the veteran uncle had to rename his faction as NCP (SP) after the party proper was awarded to Ajit by the Election Commission. Merger with the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) has been ruled out,” state NCP president Sunil Tatkare said.
