Amid NCP Feud Buzz, Ajit Pawar's Missing Photo On Party Posters Sparks Row

Amid a buzz that Ajit Pawar's NCP is battling factionalism after his death, a poster at an event held in the party's Maharashtra unit chief Sunil Tatkare's constituency has sparked a massive row. Photographs of the late Ajit Pawar, who died in a shocking plane crash in January, and his wife and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar were missing from the poster at the Raigad event attended by Tatkare.

Sources have indicated that similar posters were noticed during the recently concluded Zilla Parishad elections, which took place shortly after Ajit Pawar's death. In those campaign posters, too, the sources said, only Tatkare's photograph featured on party posters.

Recently, an event was organised to felicitate the newly elected Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti members in Indapur, the constituency of Tatkare's daughter and minister Aditi Tatkare. The stage banner displayed photos of Sunil Tatkare, Aditi Tatkare, former MLA Aniket Tatkare, and local leaders. But it did not have photos of Ajit Pawar and Sunetra Pawar.

In a letter to the Election Commission of India, Sunetra Pawar recently wrote, "It is requested that any correspondence made by any person on behalf of the party in this regard between 28 January 2026 and the appointment of the new NCP president should be considered null and void."

Rohit Pawar, Ajit Pawar's nephew and MLA from the NCP's Sharad Pawar-led faction, alleged that the posters were proof that Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, leaders of the Ajit Pawar faction, were attempting to take over the party. "They might want to negotiate with the ED by taking control of the party. They need to remember that only Sunetra Pawar can call the shots," he told NDTV.

NCP leader Amol Mitkari launched an attack on his own party. "This is something the ordinary worker of the NCP will never tolerate. No one should attempt to sideline the deities of the NCP and project themselves as god. Maharashtra will not tolerate this," the former MLC wrote, sharing pictures of Ajit Pawar, Sunetra Pawar, and their sons Parth Pawar and Jay Pawar.

Responding to the allegations, Aditi Tatkare has said local party workers organise programmes at the grassroots level. "In one such programme at the gram panchayat level, there was no photo of our late leader Ajitdada Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party and our national president as well as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Sunetrakaki, and regarding this, I express my regret."

"Whether it is Ajitdada or Sunetrakaki, their place in our hearts is unshakeable. One should not judge the loyalty of all of us workers based on the photo on the banner," she said in a post on X.

"Nevertheless, one good thing came out of this - we have now realised how the mechanism works that turns a single mistake at the local level in a local programme into an issue. God only knows how much remorse those who relish chewing on this issue must feel in their hearts for the criticism they levelled against Dada when he was alive... Otherwise, Kaki, as the head of the party family, certainly has the right to grab us by the ears for our mistake," she said.