Pawar’s fate as leader sealed in box

Preceding the polling today, Congress camps in Mumbai were humming with furious activity with concerted efforts by the anti-Pawar factions to ensure that the margin of Pawar’s support in Maharashtra is reduced to 60 per cent. The hub of much of these activities was the drawing room of former Himachal Pradesh Governor Sudhakarrao Naik. Almost all Congress strongmen from the state came calling on Naik , who kept his cool in the face of denials from several state delegates that they were not part of the alleged conspiracy against Pawar.

According to sources, the list of delegates who preferred to vote against Pawar was drawn up in Naik’s salon but there were several denials from those who figured in it. However, that did not seem to bother the loyalist camp, who were confident that they had played their hand well enough to reduce Pawar’s share of the vote from his own home state. “Even if we manage to get 40 per cent of the votes, it is an impossible setback for Pawar. It will show the world that he cannot even carry his own turf,” a Congress delegate claimed. But by the end of the day, their hopes were higher; sources claimed that Pawar and Kesri might share 50 per cent of the votes. “This is more mischief than Pawar can handle,” claimed one delegate who said that far from positioning himself for the top job in the party-after-Kesri, the lower percentage would reduce the Maratha strongman’s boast of being the unmatched leader of the state to empty rhetoric.

While his detractors might be hoping to put an end to his national ambition forever, the Pawar camp is confident that the he will secure at least 70 per cent of the votes from the state. “If he gets more than that, it will finish the parlour conspiracies against him by leaving no doubt that he carries most of the state bar a few disgruntled top leaders. If he gets less, it will prove that not all are against his leadership as the loyalist camp makes out,” said a Pawar supporter. Pawar himself appeared to be hedging his bets by stating that while there was large scale gerrymandering of the electoral college in other states, he “had to admit that in Maharashtra it was lesser”. A Pawar detractor shot back, “That is because all the manipulation here has been done at his end!” Both camps seem to be holding their breath for the best that they could hope under the circumstances.