Nationalist Congress Party

The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the state parties in India and one of the major political parties in Maharashtra with a recognised state party status in Nagaland and Kerala.^[1] The party has its presence in legislative assemblies of Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh, being in the governing coalition in both of these states. The party is also part of the current governing coalition National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The original incarnation of the party was founded in 1999 by Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar after a split within the Indian National Congress. After major disagreements between its leaders, the party split again in 2023. Two factions emerged, one led by the founder president Sharad Pawar and the other led by his nephew Ajit Pawar. After a legal battle, the Supreme Court of India gave judgement in favour of the faction led by Ajit Pawar, which was allocated the party symbol and name. Subsequently, the Sharad Pawar led faction formed the NCP (SP). Under the leadership of Ajit Pawar, the NCP revamped itself and adopted the color pink to associate with the party.

The Nagaland state unit which was supporting the NDPP-BJP state government and the Jharkhand state unit of the party went with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP while the Kerala state unit of the party which was a part of the Left Democratic Front went with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP).