Mumbai: Even as deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar called on chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday amid continuing speculation about the merger of the two NCP parties, working president of the NCP SP Supriya Sule categorically ruled out the possibility. She reiterated that this issue had reached a full stop the day her cousin, former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, was killed in an air crash this Jan.“I am saying this for the final time. When my brother was alive, there were talks on a merger and a date had been fixed. The day he passed away — in my mind and within our party — there was a full-stop to this,” she said.She clarified that she had not received any proposal regarding the merger from the NCP. “I have not received any proposal by phone, WhatsApp, letter or any other means of communication,” she said.Responding to media questions on whether the NCP (SP) is considering joining the NDA alliance, she said, “There are no such talks. A full-stop can be spoken of only if talks are on.”Regarding her meetings with NCP leader Praful Patel in recent days, she said the two families have known each other for decades and that both of them were part of several parliamentary committees. “We meet regularly in the parliamentary committee on finance and FCRA. He was among the invitees for my daughter’s wedding,” said Sule.When asked about her response to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut’s comment that talk of the merger was a myth and would fade in the next two days, she said, “He is like an elder brother to me and a senior leader in the MVA alliance. He has the right to say what he wants.”On the NCP (SP)’s possible support for the Centre’s delimitation bill, Sule said, “Six months ago, they had discussed this with several leaders of the INDIA bloc including me and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Arvind Sawant. We felt that if the seats in all parliamentary constituencies uniformly rise by 50%, then there is no harm discussing this. The size of the electorate in each parliamentary constituency has risen from 13-14 lakh to 25-30 lakh and it is difficult for MPs to reach out to the entire constituency,” she said.However, she added, “There is no proposal before us at the moment. Nor have we seen the bill.”
