Mumbai: Shortly after deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s death in Jan, the NCP (SP)’s Jayant Patil had revealed that talks on a merger with the NCP had reached the final stage, and that the proposal had come from the late leader. However, at the time, senior NCP politicians Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare had denied it. On Thursday, Tatkare finally admitted that merger talks had indeed reached their final stage when Pawar was alive.As talks of a merger have resurfaced, NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule responded by saying she had felt hurt when the “other side” had denied the talks had taken place and that NCP (SP) had its self-respect and had moved on that very day.“The merger was my brother’s last wish. On the day he passed away, our leaders spoke of this in the discussions. But those on the other side said nothing like this had taken place. I felt extremely sad and hurt,” Sule said on Friday.She said the NCP (SP) decided the merger was over on that very day. “My brother had passed away and we were trying to fulfil his last wish because the proposal had come from him. That’s why we ended the issue on that very day. We are self-respecting people. When I realized that the other side does not want to fulfil his wish, we moved on and got busy in the service of the state and the country,” she said.Significantly, Tatkare had said that talks of a merger had indeed come to a halt, but it was because the NCP (SP) had declared the discussion was over and there was no new proposal from the latter.On the issue of NCP (SP)’s likely support for the NDA govt’s delimitation bill, Sule said, “I have already expressed my views on this. The bill is not yet in front of us. How can I say anything more?”Commenting on Jayant Patil’s meeting with deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday, Sule said, “We are public representatives. We promote their interests. What is wrong if we meet various ministers and leaders in this connection?”
