TMC, NCP Merger With Congress? What We Know About Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar’s Return To INC Under Rahul Gandhi’s Leadership

The buzz is growing that several INDIA bloc parties may join the grand old Congress party. According to speculation, the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party may return to the INC. The founding leaders of the two parties were earlier part of the Congress party. Sharad Pawar left Congress on May 20, 1999, with several other leaders. Mamata left the party in December 1997 and founded TMC.  Now, both parties are facing an existential crisis with several leaders deserting Mamata and Pawar and coming up with new factions. In 2023, NCP was in the same boat as TMC finds itself today. At that time, Pawar’s nephew, late Ajit Pawar, rebelled against his uncle to form a new faction and ended up supporting the BJP. 

Speculations Or Merger Happening?

So far, leaders from Congress, TMC, and NCP (SP) have rejected the speculations, calling the talks rumors. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal clearly denied the reports of a merger between the INDIA bloc parties. He called the reports “baseless rumors.” However, a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra hinted that reports may not be complete rumours. He said that the “like-minded parties,” adding that NCP-SP’s merger has already been made by Sharad Pawar and is in the works.

“Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee are making up their mind for a merger with the Congress. It will not ot be an alliance, but a merger,” Patole said. 

He said that the plan is already in consideration, however was delayed due to ‘some reasons.’ 

“The proposal from the NCP, from Pawar Saheb, had already been given earlier but got delayed due to some reasons. But I feel that with whatever is happening in the country’s politics right now… to stop the large-scale division of votes… all parties that have secular, pluralistic ideologies should unite. This process has now begun at the national level, and whether it is the Trinamool Congress or Pawar Saheb all are now showing the willingness to merge with Congress,” Patole said.

Will TMC, NCP Accept Rahul Gandhi’s Leadership?

Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut, who is a prominent leader in the INDIA bloc, pitched for the same some days ago. He urged Sharad Pawar to ‘take the lead’ and merge the smaller parties with Congress, saying that these parties were once part of the INC.  

“Congress has to be strong, and leaders of smaller parties that emerged from it must understand the situation,” Raut had said.

Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also urged the small parties to merge with the INC and work under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. 

“What Sanjay Raut said has merit. The time has come. All those parties that became regional parties after separating from the Congress should rejoin, and they should wholeheartedly accept Rahul Gandhi as the leader,” Gehlot said.

CP-SP leader and Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, reacted to the suggestion, saying that time will tell what happens next. 

“Let it rain first, then we’ll see whether to take an umbrella or a raincoat,” she said while reacting to Raut calling his suggestion a good proposal. 

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