India, May 18 -- Surprising many in the state's political circles, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday mouthed words of praise for Sunil Tatkare, the state president of the rival NCP faction, when media persons asked him about Takare's visit to his residence on Tuesday. This was the day Tatkare discovered that the letter sent by NCP chief Sunetra Pawar to the Election Commission of India did not mention him as state NCP head. In his interaction with the media, Pawar pointed out that Tatkare was once finance minister of Maharashtra and had been state president of the NCP for quite some time. Adding that Tatkare was a "capable leader", he remarked that it was a question of how his current organisation used people like him. The remarks were amusing for many, as it is well known in both NCP factions that the veteran politician is not exactly fond of Tatkare. It was Tatkare who would openly side with Ajit Pawar when the latter disagreed with his uncle during the NCP's united days; and when Ajit tried to split the party in 2019, as well as when he actually split it in 2023, Tatkare played a significant role in mobilising party MLAs. Given this background, Pawar lauding him publicly came as a surprise. But Tatkare's aides are also wondering whether Pawar was actually bowling a googly since the very next day, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar targeted Tatkare and reiterated his allegations that the latter had conspired against Ajit in the past. As the list of the new national executive members of the NCP became public, one thing was clear-almost half of the people in it are considered close to party chief Sunetra Pawar's son Parth. Prominent among these are national secretary Avinash Adik, the party's lone MLA in Mumbai Sana Malik, Dhiraj Sharma and Abhishek Bokey. This has given credence to the speculation that Parth is building his own team within the party. NCP insiders say he is now getting more involved in the decisions of the party, as mother Sunetra is busy handling her duties as deputy CM. With Ramesh Chennithala, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Maharashtra, getting inducted as a minister in the Kerala cabinet, the party in Maharashtra will get a new AICC overseer. Chennithala handled the party organisation's issues during the crucial periods of the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The Congress sent the most MPs among all parties to the Lok Sabha but slipped badly in the assembly election. Significantly, Chennithala was one of the Congress leaders who had cautioned the MVA against overconfidence before this election. Several leaders in the party are not happy about the development, as Chennithala handled his responsibility well and made it a point to reach out to local Congress leaders across the state. They are not sure who his successor will be and how the latter will handle the responsibility. Incidentally, Chennithala is the second in-charge of Maharashtra to get promoted-earlier, Karnataka Congress leader H K Patil was in this post when he got promoted to being a minister in the Karnataka government. On Thursday, all attention was on the Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder case due to its political context. Nimbalkar, then a Congress leader, and his driver were shot dead in Navi Mumbai on June 3, 2006. NCP heavyweight Padmasinh Patil, who is Nimbalkar's cousin and also deputy chief minister Sunanda Pawar's stepbrother, is the prime accused. Both sides were expecting the verdict on Thursday but Patil and another accused were absent, leading the special CBI court to postpone the hearing to June 16. Patil's son Rana Jagjitsinh is a BJP MLA while Nimbalkar's son, Omraje Nimbalkar, is a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP. Significantly, Patil, a minister in successive Congress and Congress-NCP governments, was once a trusted aide of Sharad Pawar. NCP chief spokesperson and former Kalyan MP Anand Paranjpe on Thursday quit the party and rejoined the ruling Shiv Sena. He had quit when the party chose former Bandra MLA Zeeshan Siddique over him for a legislative council berth. According to Sena insiders, Paranjpe took the decision to return with an eye on the next Lok Sabha election. After delimitation, Thane district could get one more parliamentary constituency and he is likely to stake a claim on this. Significantly, his father and former Sena MP Prakash Paranjpe shared cordial relations with Eknath Shinde and other senior Sena leaders in Thane district....