India, March 30 -- Two months after the tragic death of then deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in Baramati, the debate has resurfaced within the party now headed by Sunetra Pawar over a merger with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

On Sunday, two prominent NCP leaders spoke out in support of a merger, contrary to the measured silence of top NCP leaders immediately after Ajit Pawar's demise, when the NCP (SP) leadership claimed a merger was in the works before he died.

"If both the parties are to come together and the NCP is to grow under the leadership of deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar, the time has not passed yet," said Sunil Shelke, NCP MLA from Maval, who is considered an A...