Sharad Pawar: ‘Many regional parties will move closer to Congress, some may merge’

Asked whether that applied to his own party, the NCP, the chief of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) said, “I don’t see any difference between the Congress and us….Ideologically, we belong to the Gandhi, Nehru line of thinking.”

Then he promptly added: “I am not saying anything now…Without consulting colleagues, I shouldn’t say anything. Ideologically, we are close to them (the Congress) — any decision on strategy or the next steps will be taken collectively. It is difficult to adjust (with) or digest (Narendra ) Modi.”

The Indian Express spoke with Pawar in Satara on the night of May 4 after he had addressed a mammoth rally for his candidate Shashikant Shinde who is taking on Udyanraje Bhosale, once with the NCP, but fighting on the BJP ticket.

Pawar’s remarks come when many regional parties are witnessing a transition of power to the second generation of leaders — from the patriarchs who founded these outfits (SP, RJD, LJP, YSRCP, TDP, BRS) to their sons or daughters who are increasingly coming under attack for alleged corruption and dynastic rule and may look for a wider umbrella under which they fight their battles.

Speaking of ally Shiv Sena (UBT), the 83-year-old Pawar said, “Even Uddhav (Thackeray) is positive…about working together (with like-minded parties).” He added, “I have seen his thinking…it is just like ours.”

Sharad Pawar said he sensed an “undercurrent” against the ruling party in Maharashtra in the ongoing election. This, he had heard, was also the case in some other parts of the country “like UP”.

The Satara rally was organized jointly by the NCP (Sharad Pawar), Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the AAP at the Satara Zilla Parishad grounds which was jampacked with a crowd which responded enthusiastically to the punch lines delivered by the leaders; besides Pawar, they included former CM Prithviraj Chavan, and AAP MP Sanjay Singh.

It was in Satara in 2019 where a drenched Pawar had continued to address a rally in pouring rain during the Assembly elections — a picture that had gone viral.

Speaking of what differentiated the 2024 elections from earlier ones, Pawar said, “A sizeable section of the political parties don’t like the BJP and (Narendra) Modi, and they are beginning to come together (meaningfully).”

“Desh ka mood Modi ke khilaaf ho raha hai,” Pawar went on. (The mood in the country is turning against Narendra Modi) “And we are moving in a positive direction, following the ideas of Gandhi and Nehru.”

There was another difference between 2019 and 2024, he said. “Many more younger people,” he said, “are associating themselves with the Opposition parties compared to last time.”

The situation, Pawar said, could become like that of the Janata Party (in 1977) — the Janata Party was formed after the elections were announced with different parties coming together, and they went on to form the government.

Then, as now, the Opposition had not announced its PM candidate before the elections—Morarji Desai was chosen the PM subsequently (by Jayaprakash Narayan and JB Kripalani after talking to MPs of different parties which had merged to form the Janata Party).

“Today Rahul Gandhi’s acceptance is more than that of Morarji Desai in 1977,” Pawar said. “He enjoys a substantial support within his own party—unlike Desai.” Rahul Gandhi, Pawar went on, has been “building a rapport with all of us (in the regional parties) ”

“People feel he sincerely wants to bring together like-minded people.” Pawar recalled how Rahul had called on him and they had held serious discussions on a host of subjects. “That was not the way Morarji Desai used to function.”

“All I am saying is that the situation demands that we work together, that is the general thinking (in the Opposition) – and we should give a stable government if we are elected.”

Referring to the split in the NCP and in the Shiv Sena in the last two years, Pawar said that those “who had gone across to join Modi, log unko pasand nahin kar rahe hain.” (People are not liking them.)

What about Baramati, where a bitter battle is on between his daughter Supriya Sule and his nephew Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra—and where elections were held on Tuesday May 6?

“Jeet rahe hain,” (We are winning.) he said.

The Pawar clan, from around the world, meets every year over Diwali. “But,” Sharad Pawar was categorical, “(politically) if he wants to come back, we will not accept him.”

Pawar’s remarks about the emergence of a more bipolar polity acquire significance coming as they do from a leader like him. For few political figures have had both the protagonist’s and antagonist’s view of the Congress as he does.

In 1978, he broke away from the Congress to become the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the head of a coalition government with the Janata party. He returned to the Congress in 1987 and became CM of Maharashtra in 1988, this time at the head of a Congress government. In mid-1999 he parted company with the Congress over Sonia Gandhi’s foreign antecedents — and formed the Nationalist Congress Party.

Only months later, the pragmatic Pawar joined hands with the Congress to form a government in Maharashtra to counter the politics of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state. Pawar served as Agriculture minister in the UPA government (2004-2014) led by Manmohan Singh.