Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule Meet PM Modi Amid Buzz Over NCP Support To NDA

Even as the Opposition MPs protested and raised slogans against the government outside Parliament on Wednesday, a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office has raised political eyebrows.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter and MP Surpiya Sule met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his office on Wednesday.

In pictures from the meeting the veteran Maratha leader and the prime minister were seen sharing a hearty laugh while exchanging some notes.

In another picture Prime Minister was seen receiving the senior leader at the door of his room.

During the meeting Sharad Pawar submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister listing the issues faced by the farmers in the country and issues related to irrigation.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of government's efforts to muster up a two-thirds support in Parliament for the Delimitation Bill that the Centre plans to bring again in the ongoing Monsoon Session.

NCP (SP)'s eight MPs are key to government's Parliament strategy.

The NCP had earlier indicated that may support the bill if the government gave a written assurance on the 50% seat increase across the board.

"Give the 50 percent seats increase condition on paper, then we will discuss," Supriya Sule had said at a press conference last week.
There has also been speculation of a section of Sharad Pawar's party pushing for a merger with the NDA. 

But the BJP, sources told NDTV, is clear that any official alignment of the Sharad Pawar faction with the NDA would require the reunification of the NCP's two rival groups.

There have been rumblings of a political reunion in Maharashtra, fuelled by recent meetings between leaders from both NCP camps and key figures in the ruling dispensation.

According to sources within the BJP, the party's position is that the NCP as an entity would be considered for closer ties with the NDA only after the two factions resolve their differences and merge. There is little appetite, sources say, for bringing Sharad Pawar or his key associates into the alliance on an individual basis.

In this context, the political symbolism of the high-level meeting between Pawar and the Prime Minister cannot be overstated. The meeting of a key constituent of the Opposition bloc on a day when the Opposition is scaling up attacks on the government is not devoid of larger political meaning.