Nagpur: NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar said a merger between the two NCP factions could only happen if Ajit Pawar’s party quits its alliance with BJP, reviving talk of a reunion with strings attached.Pawar, who has been touring eastern Vidarbha since Tuesday, cited the current arrangement where one NCP faction is part of the state govt. “Our party and their party will never come together in this scenario. Earlier, Praful Patel, along with Sunil Tatkare, tried to take control of the party. I have already given proof of this before, and I don’t see the benefit in bringing it up again now,” he said.Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar welcomed the sentiment but added a pointed dig at Ajit Pawar’s NCP. “It’s true that Rohit Pawar holds secular views, and what a worker like him says serves the interest of a progressive Maharashtra. Whether the two parties merge, or who they stay with, is their own affair. NCP’s stance until now has always been to side with whoever holds power. Only Sharad Pawar himself has repeatedly stood apart from that.”Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut backed Rohit Pawar’s condition. “Ajit dada had a compulsion, and that is why he went with BJP. The original party belongs to Pawar saheb, just as the Shiv Sena belongs to Uddhav Thackeray or Balasaheb. A merger cannot happen unilaterally, and I am completely certain that Pawar saheb will never go with BJP.”The reunification buzz picked up pace after Ajit Pawar’s death earlier this year, with the senior Pawar’s camp claiming talks had already begun. Tatkare and Sunetra Pawar’s camp repeatedly denied any such discussions. Tatkare later reversed his own denial, acknowledging that talks had in fact taken place.