File photo of NCP leader Praful Patel
| Photo Credit: PTI-
Former Union Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Praful Patel on Tuesday (Febuary 3, 2026) said that he was not in the race for the position of national president of the NCP. That responsibility should be handed over to Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, Mr. Patel said.
Mr. Patel met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday, where they discussed the situation in Maharashtra, senior sources told The Hindu.
Sunetra Pawar, who was recently sworn-in as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, is slated to visit New Delhi after the State Cabinet meeting on February 10. She is likely to meet Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah then, sources said.
“Did anybody from my party talk of my name [for the post of national president]? Some people have planted it. Someone gave wrong information to (Union Commerce Minister) Piyush Goyal, and he has withdrawn it,” Mr. Patel said, speaking with reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The former Minister was speaking a day after a political storm broke out over the possibility of his becoming the party’s next national president. At a condolence meeting held at the party office, he also said the position should be given to Ms. Sunetra Pawar.
Mr. Patel denied any talk of a merger between the NCP and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar or SP).
Slamming the opposition to Ms. Sunetra Pawar’s appointment as leader of the legislative party and Deputy Chief Minister within four days of Ajit Pawar’s tragic death in an air crash, Mr. Patel said it was an internal decision of the party.
“Dada (as the late Ajit Pawar was known) always believed that life must go on. We are all sad. The entire State is in grief. But we are grateful that Sunetra Pawar considered our plea and respected it. She came to Mumbai after grieving with the family for three days. Ajit Pawar was our key leader since the formation of the party. He became the national president of the party in 2023…We have appointed Sunetra Pawar as the legislative party leader of our party. She was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister on the same day. Whom the NCP chooses as its own leader is our internal question,” Mr. Patel said.
No merger
Mr. Patel denied any discussion about a merger between the NCP and NCP(SP). When pressed about it, he said the priority was to focus on one’s own party and its internal matters. “Our party, our house, our legislature party is our priority. Merger is not the topic in front of us,” Mr. Patel said.
Slams Raj Thackeray, Raut
“I am the working president of NCP. After Ajit Pawar, it is my responsibility to put things in order. For the appointment to the [NCP] national president’s position, we will complete the internal process and do it. Is it right of people from other parties, who haven’t even fought an election, to make statements about us? If someone comments about us, they should be ashamed,” he said, in an apparent reference to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut.
“Is he (Raj Thackeray) from my party? What is my relation [to him]? Should he decide who should be our leader? Not Raj Thackeray — not anybody else — can say anything. I am a public representative who has been elected by the people. Those who never won even one vote from the people should not say anything. They should be ashamed,” Mr. Patel said.
Published – February 03, 2026 10:15 pm IST
