A decade ago,when Sharad Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the NCP and the two parties managed to cobble together a coalition government in Maharashtra after fighting the polls separately,his little-known nephew declined the post of deputy chief minister saying his ambition was the top job in the state. Over the past few days,50-year-old Ajit Anantrao Pawar has seen both possibilities slip out of his hands. If the NCPs second-place finish in the Assembly results put the chief ministers post out of his reach,this week he let it be known that he wouldnt be averse to the deputys position in the Congress-NCPs third term in power,but was kept out. The meeting of the NCP legislators in Mumbai to choose their leader was a rude shock to Ajit Pawar. Central observers Praful Patel,Tariq Anwar and D P Tripathi were at the partys state headquarters to interact with the 62 new MLAs. Besides Ajit,the contenders for the post included incumbent deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and the man who held the post before 26/11 forced him out,R R Patil. Most MLAs favoured Ajit as there was a general feeling that Bhujbal had already got his due,having been made deputy CM twice,and having got his nephew Sameer elected to the Lok Sabha and son Pankaj to the Assembly. However,Bhujbal made a fervent appeal for a fresh term,saying he had been an MLA since 1985 and had decided not to contest elections in the future. In the vacillation that followed,the matter was referred to Pawar Sr and Ajit,surprisingly,lost the battle. The party favoured Bhujbal a founder member of the NCP and an OBC leader who has been with Pawar Sr since quitting the Shiv Sena. Ajit walked out of the meeting and was not reachable for the next 16 hours,fuelling frenzied speculation that the unhappy NCP leader would revolt. The following day,he returned and explained that he was not unhappy as believed and that he had gone to Delhi to meet his uncle for some official work. I have accepted the collective decision taken on the issue and there is no question of my being unhappy, he said,pointing out that he had misjudged the support of party MLAs. Pawar Sr has drawn the curtain on the issue by saying that Ajit is not unhappy,but the incident has set off a wave of simmering discontent in the party,especially among Pawars fellow Maratha leaders who are already annoyed with the importance given to Bhujbal,an OBC. The powerful Maratha lobby in rural Maharashtra considers Ajit the natural heir of Pawars political legacy and he was groomed accordingly. But the perception changed in 2006,when Pawar Sr got his daughter Supriya Sule nominated to the Rajya Sabha with the support of the Congress as well as the Shiv Sena. Pawar went on to vacate his well-nurtured Baramati Lok Sabha constituency early this year,shifting to Madha (Solapur) to get Sule elected from there. Bhujbals selection as the next deputy chief minister is being read in the party as another indicator of Sule replacing Ajit as Pawars political inheritor. Although he is media shy and generally shuns the limelight,Ajit is known for his no-nonsense,outspoken approach within the party and has a huge advantage over Sule as he has learnt the political ropes from the grassroots,party insiders say. Two years ago,he engineered a unique coalition in the Pune Municipal Corporation by forming an alliance involving the NCP,Sena and BJP to keep the Congress out of power. The Pune Pattern,as it came to be called,was a constant source of heartburn for the Congress and was disbanded only on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls. However,besides this unique Pune experiment,Ajit has little to show in terms of political accomplishment as he has always functioned under the shadow of his powerful uncle. In fact,even his electoral wins once to the Lok Sabha,from Baramati in 1991,and four times to the Assembly from the same family pocket borough were more on account of his being Sharad Pawars nephew than on his own personal steam. Ajit only rose to control the party in the state after Pawar moved to Delhi and needed a trusted lieutenant in Maharashtra to manage the party and its Maratha chieftains in his absence. While Ajit may be a little miffed now,NCP leaders say the uncle and nephew are well aware of the dynamics of their relationship. Pawar,they say,has not dumped his nephew by backing Bhujbal or promoting his daughter into politics but was only being pragmatic at a time the Congress is calling the shots. Pawar,they add,is also aware that even if he eventually anoints Sule as his successor to head the party,the decision would have to be approved by the Maratha strongmen in the NCP,who are more inclined to support an experienced Ajit over his relatively greenhorn daughter. There is another quality that may stand Ajit in good stead now. He is known for taking tough decisions and not avoiding political realities even if they are unpleasant or for beating around the bush,as is the wont of many politicians. When he faced the press this week and squarely accepted the card his uncle had dealt him for now,it was clear this nephew could take the tough with the smooth.
