Opinion Sharad Pawar’s resignation: Chanakya triumphs again

Jyoti Punwani writes: By resigning as NCP chief, Sharad Pawar has stolen a march over nephew Ajit Pawar, and consolidated support of his party workers

Jyoti Punwani writes: Sharad Pawar is not known as Chanakya for nothing (File)

Jyoti Punwani

May 4, 2023 12:57 PM IST First published on: May 3, 2023 at 02:34 PM IST

It didn’t take long for the rethink on the resignation. Allowing the hysteria to last just a few hours seemed more in keeping with Sharad Pawar’s style than his dramatic announcement on Tuesday evening that he was resigning from the presidentship of the party he had founded and which is identified with him. One didn’t think the NCP chief, whose pronouncements are known more for their practicality than their emotional appeal, was the kind who’d encourage the anarchistic melodrama that invariably follows such announcements. Old timers would recall the tearful scenes at Janata Party leader and Karnataka CM Ramakrishna Hegde’s many resignations in the ’80s. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray indulged in this gimmick twice, but then, he always encouraged the cult that grew around him. Sonia Gandhi too, offered her resignation in 1999; ironically, Pawar was the main reason for this. She stayed on — Pawar was expelled and founded the NCP.

The Congress has never let go of the Gandhi family since Sonia became president in 1998. In the same way, it seems unlikely that the NCP will ever let go of Sharad Pawar.

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Surely the 83-year-old, known to be the shrewdest politician around, knows this. Did nephew Ajit Pawar finally drive him to the end of his tether?

Pawar is not known as Chanakya for nothing. One doesn’t know whether he has himself scripted the crises that have recently overwhelmed his party, first in 2019 when Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy CM of Maharashtra with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as CM, and now with the former announcing his desire to be CM right away, despite being in the Opposition. At the heart of both crises lies a lurking BJP with its own Chanakya. It failed in its long standing desire to break the senior most strongman of Maharashtra in its first attempt during the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. Pawar simply twisted the BJP’s trusted weapon – an ED summons – in his own favour. It was once again outwitted by Pawar after the polls, when it was all set to cut its oldest ally to size. Far from succeeding in downsizing Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, the BJP found itself out of power despite having won the most seats. Its success in wooing Ajit Pawar could last just four days; but those were enough for the latter to get the “BJP whitewash’’ that all scam-accused defectors get. On the fifth day, the truant leader, now cleared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, was welcomed back into the NCP fold, and a month later, rewarded with the Deputy CM’s post.

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Pawar’s masterstroke of bringing to fruition the MVA alliance is yet to be avenged by the BJP. The split engineered in the Shiv Sena last year did bring down the MVA coalition government, but it left Thackeray bleeding, not Pawar. Had the BJP’s recent overtures to the more-than-willing Ajit succeeded, that would have delivered a grievous wound to Sharad Pawar.

But the party chief had already started dealing with this possibility in his own style. When rumours were rife about a number of NCP MLAs going over to the BJP’s side under Ajit Pawar’s leadership, Pawar made the seemingly nonchalant remark that those who didn’t have the stomach to face an ED/CBI summons were free to leave. One would have had to be an extraordinarily thick-skinned politician to leave after this comment.

Also Read | Sharad Pawar to quit as NCP chief: Recalling his exit from Congress in 1999 to form his party

But even these preliminary moves between the BJP and Ajit Pawar served a purpose — they shook the already unequal Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis relationship on which the state government depends, and also deepened Fadnavis’ unhappiness at having been deprived of the CM’s post in a government he helped form. For, Ajit Pawar, after having been deputy CM four times already, wouldn’t have settled for any post other than that of CM, as he himself made clear.

All this worked in favour of not just Sharad Pawar, but also the MVA, and Uddhav Thackeray in particular, who after finally bestirring himself to leave his home and tour the state, finds the effort to have been worth it. Responses to his rallies signal a promising outcome for next year’s polls for the MVA.

Also Read | Sharad Pawar to quit as NCP chief: Ajit Pawar emerges as man in-charge, asks workers to not get emotional

With the right messages having been sent all round, including to restive NCP MLAs, it was time to put the nephew in his place. It is significant that only Ajit Pawar accepted the NCP chief’s resignation without demur. How was he to know that he, who was dreaming of finally becoming CM or at least party president, would end up as just one of 15 committee members tasked with finding his uncle’s successor?

Chanakya triumphs once again.

The writer is a senior journalist