Behind Ajit’s ‘mistake’ remark, bid for sympathy, fear of another battle of Pawars in Baramati

“I love all my sisters. One should not allow politics to enter homes. I made a mistake in fielding Sunetra against my sister. This should not have happened. But the parliamentary board (of NCP) made a decision. Now I feel it was wrong,” Ajit said in an interview with the Marathi news channel “Jai Maharashtra”.

Sule is the daughter of the NCP founder Sharad Pawar, who is now the NCP (SP) chief. She refrained from making any comments on Ajit’s remarks, saying that ”I have not heard Ajit Pawar’s statement and therefore I cannot comment on it”.

In July last year, Pawar’s nephew Ajit rebelled against him along with his faction of MLAs and leaders, splitting their party to join the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

In the Lok Sabha polls, Ajit gave the NCP ticket to Sunetra in Baramati, the Pawar family’s home turf, to take on Sule, who retained her seat by defeating her sister-in-law by over 1.58 lakh votes. “It was the decision of the NCP parliamentary board which I followed,” Ajit claimed.

In his Lok Sabha poll campaign, Ajit traded barbs with the 83-year-old Pawar, advised him to retire from politics, and also sought to dig out the skeletons of their political past by accusing the latter of pushing him towards the BJP-led NDA fold.

Ajit’s party colleagues followed suit. The NCP’s national working president Praful Patel warned of writing a book which would reveal “several secrets” while the party’s state unit chief Sunil Tatkare questioned Pawar as to why Ajit was denied an opportunity to become the CM.

However, several weeks down the line, Ajit seems to have realised now that his running confrontation with his estranged uncle is not serving him any good and that it is instead helping the latter garner more sympathy among the voters.

During the Lok Sabha polls, many members of the Pawar family not only stood by the side of the veteran leader but also actively campaigned for Sule. On a larger scale, it also created a negative public perception about Ajit in the state, projecting his image as the one who severed the family bonds.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the Mahayuti was dealt a severe blow as it could win only 17 seats out of 48 as against the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s 30 seats.

Among the Mahayuti partners, the NCP proved to be the worst performer, winning only one seat as compared to the BJP’s nine and the Shinde Sena’s seven seats. In the MVA camp, the NCP (SP) bagged eight seats as compared to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s nine and the Congress’s 13 seats.

Ahead of the high-stakes Assembly polls, Ajit now seems to be trying to apply correctives and put his act together. “Everybody knows that he (Ajit) has ditched Sharad Pawar and chosen his own path. Voters have not really appreciated his stand, which is visible from the Lok Sabha results. Accepting that he was wrong in fielding his wife against Sule is an attempt to get public sympathy and also create confusion in their minds,” a senior NCP(SP) leader said.

In 2013, Ajit as the Deputy CM in the then Congress-NCP government, had made a controversial statement about filling up the dam. “He (farmer from drought-prone area) has been fasting for the last 55 days. If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate into it?” he had said.

As his outburst set off a row, Ajit not only apologised for it but spent a day fasting at the Yashwantrao Chavan samadhi sthal at Karad in Satara district for repentance and self-introspection.

Ajit’s statement regretting fielding his wife in the Lok Sabha polls is also being seen in state political circles as an attempt to “repent and pacify voters”, especially in Baramati.

According to NCP(SP) sources, Ajit may face his nephew Yugendra Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, in his Baramati Assembly seat in the upcoming state polls. Ajit has been winning his seat for consecutive seven terms since 1991, but in the Lok Sabha polls Yugendra, 33, helped Sule get a significant lead from this segment over Suentra. Subsequently, pumped up by Sule’s win, several NCP(SP) workers urged Pawar to consider fielding Yugendra against Ajit in the Assembly polls.

Apprehending yet another poll bout within the Pawar family, Ajit, by expressing regret about Sunetra’s bid, has put the ball in Sharad Pawar’s corner, the NCP(SP) leader said. “Ajit has regretted bringing politics into the family and taken a moral high ground. Now, Sharad Pawar will have to decide whether he will allow yet another electoral battle within the family,” said the leader, adding that “confused voters may become susceptible to the image of a strong leader like Ajit”.

Tatkare refused to comment on the reasons behind Ajit’s statement. “It was an interview and he said what he had to. Who am I to explain why he said that? But let me be clear. We have taken a conscious decision to join the NDA. It is our conscious decision to contest the upcoming Assembly elections as part of the NDA,” he said.