MUMBAI, Feb. 1 -- With Sunetra Pawar taking over as deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government following the death of her husband in a plane crash, the second part of the power tussle between the two NCPs has begun in earnest. The haste with which she took oath has put a question mark over the process of reconciliation that the uncle and the nephew were reportedly working on. While Sharad Pawar himself had said that the merger of the two factions was on the cards, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP leaders denied that the nephew had promised any such thing. According to NCP insiders, the scramble for control of the party began on Thursday itself, barely hours after Ajit's cremation. Senior party leaders who were his close aides-the party's working president Praful Patel, state president Sunil Tatkare and Dhananjay Munde-went into a huddle to decide his successor. The trio was perhaps wary that the senior Pawar, who had lost control of the majority of the party in 2023 when Ajit split it, would now try to take it over again. Senior NCP (SP) leaders such as Jayant Patil and Shashikant Shinde on Thursday itself had begun making public statements that Ajit had agreed to announce the merger in February and how it was his wish that the two factions should come together. The leaders were wary that Pawar would try to turn their MLAs against them over the issue of leadership. According to party insiders, this was when NCP politicians hastened the process of choosing Sunetra, who was already an option, as deputy CM. This was discussed with both Sunetra and her elder son Parth; and later, Patel and Tatkare came to Mumbai to apprise CM Devendra Fadnavis of the decision. Simultaneously, the NCP's political strategist Naresh Arora and Parth spoke with Sunetra, pointing out that she needed to take over as Ajit's successor immediately. The formal decision on swearing-in was taken by Fadnavis on Friday when senior NCP leaders met him. In Baramati, meanwhile, Sharad Pawar created a flutter when he went to visit a village where people were complaining of water contamination. The Sunetra camp saw this as an indication by Pawar to the NCP MLAs that he was active again. Late in the evening, Sunetra, along with younger son Jay, left for Mumbai, which surprised several leaders of both the factions. "We had been told that all the seniors in the Pawar family were expected to sit together on Friday evening or Saturday and discuss the way forward, including the issue of merger of the two parties. However, there were no discussions between Pawar and Sunetra," said a senior NCP (SP) leader. Pawar himself said on Saturday that he was not aware of Sunetra's decision to take over as deputy chief minister. On Saturday, most senior NCP leaders said that the attempt by Pawar to take over had been preempted by the top brass with the move to make Sunetra deputy CM. She is also likely to be elected as party president soon. "Being the deputy chief minister means Sunetra is in charge of the party. Earlier, she was just the wife of the party president who died. Now, any merger proposal will have to be discussed with her as the de facto head of our party," explained an NCP minister. This effectively puts a big question mark over the reconciliation process. "Pawar will not sit with Sunetra to discuss the merger of the party. This means the merger has been put on the back burner," admitted an NCP (SP) legislator. He also pointed out that NCP seniors Patel, Tatkare, Munde and Chhagan Bhujbal, who played a crucial role when the party was split in 2023, were not keen on the merger plan, being well aware that Pawar had not forgiven them. "The seniors also pointed out to Sunetra and Parth that they would not be able to retain control if the two parties merged," said the above-mentioned NCP minister. "Further, once Sunetra is deputy CM, MLAs won't go against her. Everybody knows the MLAs are with us because they want to be in power." Both factions see the NCP tussle intensifying as Pawar targets MLAs and support bases, while Sunetra faces the daunting task of replacing Ajit and managing allies, cooperatives, and rivals....