A MID-DAY report on the possibility of Mumbai’s AC local trains getting a push with the BJP and Mahayuti government being back in power has triggered a massive debate, with the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) and BJP accusing each other of stalling and delaying the project.

The plan to convert Mumbai’s local fleet into AC trains had been stuck due to political opposition from the NCP since August 2022 with the party’s President Sharad Pawar calling for their complete withdrawal from the city and restoration of regular services for working-class commuters after which Central Railway (CR) discontinued ten new services, citing law and order issues. In July 2023, the NCP split into two factions with the group led by Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit later being allowed to use the original party’s name and electoral symbol. The Sharad Pawar-led faction came to be known as the NCP-SP.