The Delhi denizen, and the trusted comrade: NCP chief Sharad Pawar new No.2s

At the same time, Sharad Pawar’s choice of Sule and Patel, one of his closest aides over the years, as effective No. 2s is not surprising.

SUPRIYA SULE

The only child of the Pawars, Sule was handpicked for a Delhi role right from the start, with her political career launched in 2006 with a Rajya Sabha seat. In 2009, she was given the ticket from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, which her father won for the first time in 1984 and which has been in the family since 1991, barring a 1994 by-poll.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar with party’s senior leaders Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and others during the party’s foundation day celebrations in New Delhi, Saturday, June 10, 2023. Pawar announced Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as working presidents of the party. (PTI Photo)

Ajit was by then already politically well-established, as a Cabinet minister in the state and an MLA from the Baramati Assembly segment, and pitched in for Sule’s first election.

Sule, who retained the seat in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, proved a quick learner of Delhi power corridor ropes, as well as an effective parliamentarian, at ease in English, Marathi, as well as Hindi. Like Pawar Senior, she also developed – and continues to maintain – cordial relations across parties and states, including many within the BJP, and across fields as diverse as social activists to Bollywood.

More than Sule being made working president, what is more curious is Pawar making her in-charge of Maharashtra, among other states. This pits her directly against her cousin Ajit, whose consolation prize has always been his reign over the state. Amid the power tussle that keeps flaring up within the NCP first family at intervals, Sule had till recently maintained that she would not interfere with the party work in Maharashtra as “my brother Ajit” was looking after it.

At a Town Hall organised by The Indian Express, Sule had said that the NCP was clear about assigning specific works to individuals.

As recently as May 2023, after Pawar offered his resignation from the NCP chief’s post, it was widely reported that while Sule might take over as the national president, Ajit will be given the responsibility of Maharashtra.

One factor that is believed to have gone in Sule’s favour is that, unlike Ajit, who is seen as a man in a hurry, not too careful about niceties such as the old guard, she has shown flexibility in taking everyone along. Senior party colleagues, hence, are expected to rally more easily behind her leadership.

Sule’s appointment as working president and Maharashtra in-charge incidentally comes as the BJP has declared its intention to concentrate on the Baramati Lok Sabha seat for the 2024 general elections. Sule has said she welcomes the “challenge”, and that competition is good in democracy.

Apart from politics, Sule has made a name for her work among women self-help groups. In 2012, she was instrumental in setting up a platform for young women within the NCP called the Rashtravadi Yuvati Congress. She also handles the functioning of the Yashvantrao Chavan centre, a premier institution initiated by Pawar.

PRAFUL PATEL

The other new working president of the NCP, Praful Patel, belongs to Vidarbha’s Bhandara district. For the past few years though, the vice-president of the party since September 2022 had been lying low, especially since the formation of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

NCP chief Sharad Pawar with party’s senior leader Praful Patel during the party’s foundation day celebrations in New Delhi, Saturday, June 10, 2023. Pawar announced Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as working presidents of the party. (PTI Photo/Shahbaz Khan)

One of the reasons was believed to be the shadow hanging over him due to the aviation scam probe by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, over which Patel has been interrogated. Patel handled the Civil Aviation Ministry from 2004 to 2011 under the UPA.

The ED also seized a few properties belonging to Patel in an ongoing money laundering investigation involving gangster Iqbal Mirchi.

Elected to the Lok Sabha at the age of 33 from Bhandara-Gondia constituency in 1991 and then successively in 1996 and 1998 on the Congress ticket, Patel was one of those who joined the NCP when Pawar formed it in 1999.

Patel was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the NCP in 2000 and 2006. While in 2009, he won from Bhandara as an MP on an NCP ticket, he lost in 2014, and was again sent to the Upper House by the party.

Alongside his parliamentary career, Patel kept hold of the All India Football Federation as its president from 2009 to 2022.

Hailing from a business family, one of Patel’s strengths is his large network among the business community. While that aligns with Pawar’s own belief in not shunning ties with big business, Patel also has another plus to his name: he is one of the very few leaders within Pawar’s inner circle who have cordial relations with all three member of the family who matter, that is, Pawar himself, Sule and Ajit.