NCP heavyweight Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar indicates return to NCP-SP

Mumbai, Oct 7 (IANS) Veteran politician Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar of Maharashtra's ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has indicated making a home-coming to the Nationalist Congress Party-SP, ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, its chief Sharad Pawar said on Monday.

Ex-minister Naik-Nimbalkar, 75, from the Phaltan royal family, had thrown his lot with Ajit Pawar when the NCP split in July 2023, but has now expressed remorse over abandoning Sharad Pawar at that time.

"I feel guilty about deserting Pawar Saheb… He had made me a minister in 2009 though I was not even a legislator. I had joined Ajit Pawar to ensure the security of my workers… but that doesn’t seem to be happening," a dejected Naik-Nimbalkar had said on Sunday.

He claimed that many of his supporters have been asking him to go back to NCP-SP, and hinted at his approval of their sentiments.

Sharad Pawar himself indicated the possibility of Naik-Nimbalkar quitting the NCP to join NCP-SP on October 14, at a function on Monday to welcome former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Harshvarrdhan Patil in Pune's Indapur.

Pawar also said that Patil could be the NCP-SP candidate from Indapur in the upcoming state Assembly elections, thus snuffing out signs of potential rebellion brewing in some sections of his party.

On his part, Patil sought to endear himself to the party afresh by a revelation – his "invisible role" in ensuring the victory of NCP-SP Working President Supriya Sule in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Baramati – that saw her trouncing her ‘bhabhi’ (sister-in-law) Sunetra Pawar, now, a Rajya Sabha MP, and the wife of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

NCP-SP sources revealed that Naik-Nimbalkar, a former Chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, is likely to announce his next course of action around the Dassehra festivities later this week.

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