Amol Kolhe Denies Speculations of Sharad Pawar Party and Congress Merger for 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

Actor-turned-politician Dr Amol Kolhe of the Sharad Pawar faction has dispelled rumours of Sharad Pawar's newly named party (Sharadchandra Pawar) merging with the Indian National Congress. Speculations were rife that  the Congress High Command has proposed that Sharad Pawar should merge his faction (Sharad Pawar Faction) with the Congress and contest the election on a single symbol with the Congress. For the unversed, Sharad Pawar started his political career from the Congress party. In 1967, he was first elected from Baramati Assembly Constituency. After this he was in the Congress party till 1999. After this, due to differences with the Congress leadership, he left and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. 

On July 2, 2023, Ajit Pawar split the NCP, joining the Eknath Shinde-led government along with eight MLAs of the party. He was also sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra for the fourth time following this decision. This led to numerous hearings over more than six months, with the poll panel conducting tests to ascertain party constitution compliance and organisational and legislative majority, among others. Ajit Pawar presented affidavits from 57 NCP MLAs, whereas Sharad Pawar had support from only 28 MLAs out of a total of 81 in the Maharashtra state assembly.

On February 6, 2024, the Election Commission resolved the dispute within the NCP in favour of Ajit Pawar's faction, awarding them the NCP name and 'clock' symbol. The ECI's decision  came as a huge setback to the party supremo. The following day, the poll body allotted Sharad Pawar's NCP faction a new name - 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar'.The decision was taken after the faction had submitted the following names: Sharad Pawar Congress, Mi Rashtrawadi, Sharad Swabhimani; and three symbols - 'tea cup', 'sunflower' and 'rising sun'. The EC snatched the party from the hands of those who founded and built it and gave it to others; such a thing never happened before in the country," said Pawar, who founded the NCP in 1999 after breaking away from Congress.