India, Feb. 15 -- The much-talked-about merger of the NCP's two factions seems to have been put on the backburner. While senior leaders of the NCP led by the late Ajit Pawar took an aggressive stand against the push by Sharad Pawar faction leaders for the merger, NCP (SP) state president Shashikant Shinde said on Saturday that they would not talk about the issue now. Pawar faction insiders said the party leadership had issued a gag order to its leaders, asking them not to speak about the merger in the media.

The talk about the merger gained momentum following the sudden death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash on January 28. Several senior leaders of the NCP (SP) publicly then said that talks were being held between their senior leaders and ...