Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party faction - part of Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena - is expected to launch an independent campaign for next month's Mumbai civic body election.
Pawar and senior leader Sunil Tatkare are scheduled to address party workers at 7 pm at Anushaktinagar - the constituency represented by Sana Malik, the daughter of party leader Nawab Malik, who is at the centre of a disagreement with the rest of the Mahayuti.
That the NCP will run an independent campaign for the January 15 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will likely be the headline point from the Wednesday evening meeting.
The point of contention is the appointment of Nawab Malik as the NCP's in-charge for the BMC election.
The Mahayuti had expressed reservations over his taking the reins, pointing to allegations linking him to the purchase of property with ties to mob boss Dawood Ibrahim.
Malik was also arrested - on money-laundering charges - in 2022. He is out on bail on health grounds, but the BJP has consistently cited these allegations to keep him at arm's length.
The BJP's state unit chief, Ameet Satam, declared his party "will not associate with the NCP if Nawab Malik continues to lead it in Mumbai", as Mahayuti seat-share talks gathered pace.
But Tatkare had earlier made it clear the NCP will not be bow to external pressure; this was after multiple BJP leaders declared 'discomfort' at working with a Nawab Malik-led ally.
NCP leader Nawab Malik (File).
Yet the decision to keep Ajit Pawar and the NCP out of pre-poll seat-sharing talks is not down to ideology alone. It is also, the BJP believes, sound electoral arithmetic.
In 2017, the last BMC election, seven of the NCP's nine corporators came from Mumbai's eastern suburbs, areas with Muslim and Dalit populations and in which Malik retains influence. But a formal alliance with the BJP and its Hindu-first campaign risks alienating this voter base.
From the BJP's perspective, this is advantageous.
If the NCP performs well, its numbers can be added to the Mahayuti total post-poll. If not, it still helps split minority votes, primarily denting the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena.
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Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar going solo (maybe) in this BMC election is just one of several subplots weaving its way through an already complicated political narrative in Maharashtra.
Earlier today, for example, Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj resolved a 20-year feud.
Similar speculation persists of a dramatic 'ghar wapsi', if a temporary one, for Ajit Pawar.
READ | Pawar Factions To Come Together For Pune Polls? Big Hint From Leaders
There have been reports the younger Pawar could re-align with his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, from whose side he controversially broke in 2023 to ally with the BJP.
In doing so, Ajit Pawar completed the fall of the then-Maharashtra government, which was led by an alliance of the (then also undivided) Shiv Sena, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar's NCP.
A re-alliance, however, would only be for the Pune civic election and, even then, only if the doubts of those backing Sharad Pawar are satisfied, NCP Working President Supriya Sule said.
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