AFTER HE fought his first election to the Lok Sabha from Baramati constituency and won with a huge margin, Ajit Pawar never looked back. He never lost a single election, winning the Baramati Assembly seat consecutively for seven times.
After making his grand arrival on the political field, Ajit Pawar lost no time in consolidating his grip on his hometown of Baramati and industrial city of Pimpri-Chinchwad adjoining Pune city. First as Congress leader and then as NCP’s strongman, Ajit Pawar called the shots both in Baramati and Pimpri-Chinchwad even as his uncle Sharad Pawar found more time for national politics. Ajit Pawar kept tab on each and every development of the two cities.
The third on his agenda was Pune city where till 2011 Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi was holding the fort. While in Pune city, NCP could start ruling from 2007 till it was ousted in 2017, in Baramati and then in Pimpri-Chinchwad, the Pawars ruled the roost for years. After his health started deteriorating, Sharad Pawar kept himself away from the two cities while Ajit Pawar went on to tighten his grip on the two cities.
Ajit Pawar didn’t just play politics or tried to outsmart the opposition at every election, he focussed hard on ensuring the development of the two cities, say his close aides.
Small wonder then as the two cities — Baramati and Pimpri-Chinchwad — saw rapid strides, something which other cities in Maharashtra lacked, Ajit Pawar’s stature and reputation grew as a “leader with a vision.”
“After Ajitdada won the 1991 elections, subsequently resigned, became an MLA and a Minister, Baramati’s development saw quick strides. While Pawar saheb had laid the foundation for Baramati’s development, Ajit Pawar put in all might to take the development on the faster track,” said Kiran Gujar, a close associate and a long-time family friend of the Pawar family.
Gujar said Ajit Pawar sweated all the time bringing all-round development of Baramati. ”Be it infrastructure, basic amenities, health, education, drainage system, wide roads, footpaths, service roads or water supply, Baramati saw development on all fronts. Ajit Pawar was meticulous and a hard-task master when it came to development. He was always upfront and would not allow officials to take it easy. He wanted execution of each and every project on the scheduled deadline. For this, he ensured that funds were not a problem as himself was the Deputy Chief Minister since 2004 and was the Finance Minister as well.”
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Gujar said the Rs 750 crore museum on the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji was the biggest project Baramati had seen. ”The museum is a unique one in Maharashtra. It has added to the glory of Baramati…We saw the way Ajitdada went about getting the project completed in Baramati, monitoring its progress all the time and very closely. It was something which was very close to his heart,” he said.
Imtiaz Shaikh, former NCP Baramati president said, “Which city in Maharashtra has cleanest water and that too 24X7? Baramati. Which city has a medical college, an ayurved hospital, an hospital exclusive for women, a hospital which is coming up for cancer patient…an upgraded civil hospital? Only Baramati. You can go around the state, you will find that medical facilities available in Baramati cannot be compared to any other city in Maharashtra. Full credit goes to Ajitdada, he was the architect of Baramati.”
Gujar said 30 years ago, Baramati MIDC had only a handful of industries. ”Today there are close to 100 big, medium and small industrial units…Baramati is much sought-after place in Maharashtra for setting up all kinds of industries because of its better infrastructure and improved road connectivity,” he said.
While as Deputy Chief Minister he spent five days a week in Mumbai, Saturdays and Sundays were reserved for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Baramati. At these places, Ajit Pawar would visit and inspect an ongoing project as early as 6 in the morning. He kept the officials on toes, who at times fumbled while replying to his posers over slow pace of a development project.
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In Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ajit Pawar first led the NCP’s victory in 2002 just a few years after the party came into being. As soon as he took charge, Ajit Pawar started a ”demolition mission,” to widen the roads across the length and breadth of the city. As a result, the industrial city started expanding. Flyover, bridges, sub-ways, every day water supply, improved public transport, upgraded drainage system, better roads and other facilities in the famed Pimpri-Chinchwad-Bhosari MIDC area came up during the NCP’s rule till 2017. Big names in the industrial sector set up shop here. Several schools, colleges including engineering ones, were set up in the industrial city. Residential and commercial projects surged as Pimpri-Chinchwad came out of its shadow of big brother, Pune city. Several Mumbaikers started finding Pimpri-Chinchwad a better city to live due to available of improved infrastructure.
“If Ajit Pawar had not pushed for development of Pimpri-Chinchwad, it would have never developed the way it has. We even left Pune city far behind. Ajitdada’s dedication and determination and the way he pursued each and every project ensured that Pimpri-Chinchwad become a big name nationally and even globally,” said former mayor Yogesh Behl.
Dilip Band, who was the municipal commissioner in 2004, said, “Ajit Pawar had brought me to PCMC. He gave me three years to develop the city. He point-blank told me to demolish all structures that hindered road widening. Ajit Pawar believed that roads were the lifeline of the city…”
Band said when he started bringing down illegal structures hindering road widening, the administration faced political opposition and also from some bigwigs. ”Ajit Pawar said nothing doing, go ahead and ensure development,” recalled Band.
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Echoing the sentiments, activist Manav Kamble said, “Ajit Pawar was not a typical politician who was worried about his political existence. He was more bothered about how to increase the stock of the city through its development project. And therefore, he always seemed to be a man in a hurry when it came to bringing newer development projects. Pimpri-Chinchwad became a role model city in Maharashtra and the credit goes to Ajit Pawar.”
Political analyst Avinash Chilekar said, “It was because Ajit Pawar came to Pimpri-Chinchwad with a development agenda and not political agenda, the city saw rapid strides on all front. After the NCP was ousted from power, development works took a hit.”
It was in 2017 that NCP was ousted from power by the BJP. It hurt Ajit Pawar badly. At public meetings, rallies and press conferences, Ajit Pawar would often speak about the loss of PCMC. He would lament that despite ensuring rapid development of the city, his party was ousted from power.
While campaigning for this year’s PCMC elections, Ajit Pawar went ballistic to regain power. He launched a full-scale war against BJP, singling out its MLA Mahesh Landge. He alleged that there was wide-spread corruption in PCMC. The BJP was taken aback. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was hurt by the attack on BJP by Ajit Pawar. The Deputy CM, however, kept making allegations against BJP till the last day of campaigning.
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His efforts however, did not yield result. NCP lost badly both in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune city. ”It is not about loss, it is the way Ajitdada fought the elections. He raised the right issues. He spoke loudly and clearly against corruption and candidates with criminal backgrounds. The BJP had no answer to it,” said NCP leader Ajit Gavhane.
