Pandharpur: Ashatai Pawar, the mother of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and sister of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, expressed her heartfelt wishes for family reconciliation on Wednesday. Visiting the revered Vitthal Mandir in Pandharpur on the first day of the new year, Ashatai Pawar told reporters that she prayed for the Pawar family to reunite and end their differences.
“I prayed that all the grievances within the Pawar family should end, and Ajit and Sharad Pawar come together again. I hope my prayers will be granted,” Ashatai Pawar said, voicing her hopes for a resolution between the two factions of the Pawar family.
Ajit Pawar, once a close associate and protege of his uncle Sharad Pawar, parted ways with the veteran leader in 2023. The fallout led to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with Ajit Pawar forming his own faction, which eventually received legal recognition along with the NCP name and clock symbol. Sharad Pawar, a stalwart in Maharashtra politics, continued to lead his own faction of the NCP under the name Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
The political divide between the two factions saw Ajit Pawar aligning with the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, while Sharad Pawar’s group became a part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), in alliance with Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress.
