Ajit Pawar’s stress on his bond with Sharad Pawar sets tongues wagging again

The remark coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pune, where he shared the dais with Sharad Pawar, the NCP chief.

A few hours later, when confronted by the media to explain his remark, Ajit exercised caution and said, “We are together as a family, but free to pursue our different political stands.”

A senior NCP functionary close to both Pawar Senior and Pawar Junior, however, said the leaders might be pursuing their own paths to adapt to the current political circumstances without slamming the doors on each other.

The two, according to NCP insiders, are working towards the common goal of strengthening the party organisation. While the nephew exploits the government for this purpose, they say, the uncle works with greater zeal to capture the Opposition space in the state.

The Maratha leader knows that with the split Shiv Sena and the weak Congress, the NCP has ample scope to strengthen its organisational base.

Not long ago, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had sarcastically dismissed the NCP as a party restricted to western Maharashtra. It was not totally untrue as the party had failed to make significant electoral gains in the Vidarbha, Marathwada and Konkan regions.

BJP cautious

The BJP, meanwhile, is treading cautiously as it knows well that Pawar Senior can spring surprises and have tremendous will power to digest humiliations and emerge unscathed.

Ajit has publicly talked about how every past overture to the BJP had Pawar’s approval. He has also said the short-lived arrangement that saw him become deputy chief minister in a BJP-led coalition government after the 2019 polls had his uncle’s all-clear initially.

This also may explain Pawar’s decision to share the dais with Modi. Beyond protocol, which he is always mindful of, was a political message—about how his rapport with the prime minister remains unaltered despite the split in the NCP.

State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said his party’s concern was organisational growth. “Anybody who wants to come along accepting Modi-ji’s leadership is welcome. When Ajit Pawar along with 40-plus MLAs decided to join the government, the BJP central leadership gave its nod… For us the Ajit Pawar-led party, with most NCP MLAs, is the reality,” he said.

‘Neither side has disowned the other’

Strategists in his NCP faction endorsed Ajit’s emphasis “on oneness”. “What Ajit Pawar said is true. Nobody who is in a coalition government has disowned Sharad Pawar nor has he…it’s like each is playing a well-defined role,” said a leader of the faction.

A senior NCP minister said, “If Saheb were upset with us, he would have refused to meet us.” He pointed out that Pawar had chosen to share the dais with Modi despite being requested by “half a dozen Opposition leaders” to skip the Pune event with the prime minister.

“The fact he heeded his own reasoning shows his determination to adopt a pragmatic approach to developments both at the national level and in Maharashtra politics,” the minister added.

And senior NCP leader Praful Patel has consistently said there is no split in the party.

Political observers have noted how the bitterness, anger and hatred that was evident when the Shiv Sena split is missing in the NCP’s case. Since the BJP’s “operation lotus” left Uddhav Thackeray shell-shocked, he has refused to forgive Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He has not engaged with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the 40 rebel MLAs, either.

Since then Thackeray has neither shared the dais with Modi nor left any scope for a dialogue with him, Shah or Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The BJP is a closed chapter for the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), whereas Pawar’s faction has not slammed the doors on Ajit’s camp. To the contrary, those still aligned with Pawar are seen walking in and out of Ajit’s chamber. Whether it is Cooperation Minister Dilip Walse Patil, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Health Minister Hassan Mushriff, all treat the MLAs and leaders of the Pawar faction as part of one team.

The undivided NCP had 53 MLAs, at least 36 of whom have pledged support to Ajit. Whatever line had separated the camps led by the uncle and the nephew appears to have lost its significance since Modi and Pawar shared the stage in Pune.