Mumbai, Jan. 31 -- Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar faction) leader Jayant Patil has claimed that senior leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, including Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, and Chhagan Bhujbal, were aware of plans to merge the two NCP factions well before recent political developments.
Patil said the decision to reunite the parties had been finalised in mid-January and was intended to be formally announced after the local body elections.
In a video statement shared on the social media platform X, Patil said that a decision was taken on January 16 to announce the merger after the Zilla Parishad elections scheduled for February 8. He said the timeline was discussed internally and that the announcement date was later adj...