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Journalism of Courage
As the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra faces fresh possible trouble from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) end, the man at the heart of it is again Ajit Pawar – the nephew in the shadow of the big uncle.
On Tuesday, Ajit denied talk of him leaving the NCP, splitting the NCP, or parting ways with the MVA as “rumours”. However, given Sharad Pawar’s deft realpolitik and nephew Ajit’s own reputation of vacillation – with or without Pawar Senior’s blessings – few believe this story is over.
Through his various brushes with controversy, what has kept Ajit going is the support he enjoys among NCP MLAs. In November 2010, for example, when the alleged Adarsh scam hit the Maharashtra government and the Congress-NCP decided to change the names at the top, the NCP sidelined senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal as Deputy CM to bring in Ajit after an overwhelming majority of NCP MLAs supported him – marking the first of his four tenures as Maharashtra Deputy CM.
The son of Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Anantrao, Ajit first rose in politics like the rest of the family through the cooperative sector. He was a constant by his uncle’s side starting 1991-92, and rose in prominence after Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the NCP.
In 1999, Ajit became a Cabinet minister in a Congress-NCP government. He subsequently went on to helm heavyweight ministries including Irrigation, Rural Development, Water Resources and Finance, which raised his clout, particularly in his pocket borough of Western Maharashtra.
Ajit came to be known for his slightly brusque but “efficient” way of functioning, and for “getting things done”. He was also instrumental in creating a new rung of NCP leaders, whose allegiance lies strongly with him.
In 2004, Ajit publicly differed with the party leadership’s decision to concede chief ministership to the Congress despite emerging as the single largest party. Later, he was appointed Deputy CM in the alliance.
But, it was the entry of Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule’s entry into politics in the 2009 parliamentary elections that first led to speculation about unease within the NCP first family.
In 2012, Ajit suddenly resigned as Deputy CM over accusations of irregularities in irrigation projects during his tenure as Water Resources Minister, putting the Congress government into a crisis as other NCP ministers threatened to follow suit. Then too, Sharad Pawar stepped in to save the government.
The next talk of dissent from the Ajit camp coincided with the entry into politics of Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar, just before the 2019 Assembly elections. In contrast, Ajit had to fight tooth and nail to get his son, Parth, a Lok Sabha ticket from Maval. Such was the bad blood that this was cited as one of the reasons for Sharad Pawar not contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Eventually, while Rohit won the Assembly elections from Karjat Jamkhed, Parth lost in Maval. Ajit himself retained Baramati – a constituency he has been winning since 1991 – by 1.65 lakh votes, the largest victory margin in the state.
This boost is what is believed to have given Ajit the confidence to pull off his biggest “rebellion” yet, when he overnight joined hands with the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis after the 2019 Assembly elections, which did not give anyone a clear majority, on the promise of an NCP-BJP government. That lasted only three days, and the NCP surprisingly allowed Ajit to walk right back into the party after it.
The verdict remains out on what exactly transpired then – with Fadnavis recently claiming that Sharad Pawar had carefully planned that “rebellion”, contrary to his public posturing at the time. The consensus though remains that despite Ajit’s hold over them, the NCP MLAs had chosen to play safe and stay with Sharad Pawar.
But, apart from loss of face, Ajit didn’t lose much from the episode. In the MVA government that followed, Ajit was again the Deputy CM. And when the MVA government fell in 2021 after the split in the Shiv Sena, Ajit remained right at top as the Leader of the Opposition. He was never publicly called upon to offer an explanation for the midnight episode.
What has held constant through Ajit’s peregrinations is that he has never uttered a word against his uncle, and that Sharad Pawar too has ensured a careful division of labour. Pawar Senior rarely comments or interferes in state-related political and organisational matters, leaving those to Ajit, except in the case of big events. Ajit, in turn, does not speak on national issues. Sule, who represents the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, limits herself to her seat when it comes to handling political issues.
Ajit finds himself in the latest drama now after constant rumours over the past year of being soft on his short-lived partner Fadnavis. Detractors ask why Ajit’s political attacks on the Sena-BJP government are limited to the Shinde faction.
Many NCP leaders contend that Ajit is watching out for himself, given the allegations against him. He has been dogged by charges regarding irrigation projects since his time as deputy CM in 2012, and also faces allegations regarding cooperative banks and sugar factories. In recent MVA talks, Sharad Pawar is believed to have suggested that he could understand the pressure his MLAs were under, given the cases against them.
Ajit at least has got a breather. Days ago, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank Scam. The names of both Ajit and his wife were missing from it.
