Pune Breaking News: Ajit Pawar Announces Reunion With Sharad Pawar In Pimpri-Chinchwad; NCP & NCP-SP To Contest PCMC Polls Together

Pune: In a shocking turn of events, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has announced a reunion with his uncle, Sharad Pawar, for the upcoming Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections scheduled for January 15, 2026. Speaking at an event in the city on Sunday evening, Ajit Pawar said, “For the sake of the upcoming PCMC polls, the clock and the trumpet (NCP and NCP-SP) have come together”

To face the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) will contest together. Stating that both parties will unite to resolve the city’s issues, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced the alliance of both NCP factions on Sunday in a speech at Talawade. The NCP -- now unified in the city -- launched its municipal election campaign from Talawade, where the alliance was officially sealed.

This marks the reunion after over 2.5 years of separation when Ajit Pawar surprised the whole world in July 2023 as he rebelled against his uncle -- former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Union Minister Sharad Pawar -- to become a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance. He became the state’s deputy chief minister and finance minister.

Both factions of the NCP went against each other in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and the Maharashtra Legislative Elections 2024 and had a fierce contest, as in many seats they went directly head-to-head. While the senior Pawar proved effective in the Lok Sabha elections, as he got eight MPs against Ajit’s one. However, the nephew turned the tables in the assembly polls, as Ajit Pawar won 41 seats while senior Pawar’s party could only manage 10.

Ajit Pawar and Mahayuti retained power in the state and centre, and he himself became the state’s deputy chief minister and finance minister again.

Murmurs of the reunion talks began shortly after the assembly elections, as polls for local bodies in Maharashtra were announced earlier this year. Though the first phase, where only the Municipal Council and Municipal Panchayats had their polling, didn't get the famous uncle-nephew duo together, the corporation elections announced earlier this month heated up things again.

Amidst speculations of the party reuniting in both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the factions reportedly had a fallout, as it was reported on Saturday that both will contest independently in Pune -- the fate many thought awaited Pimpri-Chinchwad. However, in his kickoff speech in Talawade, Ajit Pawar surprised everyone with the alliance’s official announcement.