Ajit steps out of his uncle’s shadow

Ajit Pawar, leader of the NCP, has declared his ambition to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and cut ties with his uncle Sharad Pawar.

Mumbai For anyone parsing Ajit Pawar’s hour-long speech at his show of strength at MET Institute of Management, Bandra, on Wednesday, three things stood out.

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One, the 63-year-old has finally cut loose of his uncle and emerged as a leader in his own right; two, NCP, under his leadership, will be an unalloyed ally of the BJP and will be a part of the NDA; and three, in giving notice to his uncle, asking him to retire outright, Ajit Pawar also gave notice of his ambitions to be Maharashtra chief minister in the foreseeable future to all other claimants for the job.

While his statement of intent about becoming the CM in the future did not surprise those who have watched his political trajectory, his outrightly personal attack and bitter on his uncle Sharad Pawar did come as a surprise. In one go, he projected his uncle as a leader well past his prime and also pointed to his alleged duplicity saying he had tried to ally with the BJP several times in the past while making him the scapegoat for the alliance with Devendra Fadnavis in 2019.

In the same vein, he accused Pawar of favouring his daughter Supriya Sule over him even though he may have had a greater claim to be Pawar’s political heir. “When I was first inducted in the cabinet in 1999, I was given a minor ministry (independent charge of Krishna Valley Corporation); in 2004 when the NCP had the highest number of seats and was in a position to take charge, he chose to give the chief ministership to the Congress rather than to me…All because I am not born to him,” he said, listing out a roll call of grievances.

Ajit Pawar also said that though he had been presented as a rebel in the past, that was never the case -- Sharad Pawar himself had planned to join hands with the BJP in 2014, 2017, 2019 and more recently in 2022 after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was toppled in June last year. “In 2017, we had meetings with senior BJP leaders and I was part of it. We had decided to join the state government with the BJP and the formula was finalised. But suddenly our leader (Pawar) refused to be in alliance with Shiv Sena and wanted the BJP to ditch the Sena and form only a BJP-NCP government instead. Sena was termed as a communal party by him. But the BJP did not ditch the Sena,” he said.

“In 2014, we were in talks with the BJP for fighting Lok Sabha polls as a three-party alliance of the BJP, Sena and the NCP. That proposal did not work out after the BJP pointed out the various cases pending against our leaders. BJP then formed the government in 2014 and it was Pawar saheb who asked all of us to attend the swearing-in ceremony at Wankhede stadium.”

In his speech, Ajit Pawar also revealed crucial details of the alleged parleys with senior BJP leaders after the 2019 assembly elections threw up a hung house. He said that BJP and NCP leaders, including himself, had held five meetings and the details of power-sharing were finalised at the house of a Mumbai industrialist. However, Pawar kept dragging his feet and decided to go with the Shiv Sena and the Congress at the nth hour as part of the MVA coalition.

“Likewise, after the MVA government was toppled in June 2022, all 53 MLAs from our party signed a letter to participate in the government with the BJP. We had rounds of meetings with the BJP before Shinde was sworn in as CM. The Central leadership of the BJP called us to Indore for further talks and a chartered flight was arranged. But our leader (Sharad Pawar) did not give us permission to go for the talks. If the Sena was communal in 2017, how did it become secular in 2019? And why was the BJP termed communal?” he asked a packed house. Over 5,000 party workers were in attendance with people spilling on the road, jamming traffic outside Lilavati hospital.

Seated on the dais with Ajit were rebel leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare, all nodding appreciatively as he announced his intent to become chief minister of Mahrashtra in the near-futur .

“I have set the record of becoming the deputy chief minister of the state five times, but nothing has move beyond that. I state here frankly that even I wish to lead the state and accomplish what I want to for the state. In the 24 years since its inception, the NCP won the highest number of seats--71 in 2004. Our aim is to win more than that highest tally by fighting at least 90 seats as part of a three-party alliance with the BJP.” In saying so he also underlined his party his high bargaining power with the BJP. He added that had Sharad Pawar insisted on an NCP chief minister in 2004 when they had a higher number of seats than the Congress, their party would still have been in power and there would have been an NCP chief minister still at the helm of the state.

A combative and yet plaintive Ajit said that he was fed up of being made the villain in all key episodes involving the BJP. “I would frequently request our leader to pass the baton over to the new blood and guide us. Public servants retire at 58 or 60, leaders in parties like BJP retire at 75, and our leader still wants to head the party at 83. For whom you are doing this?” He ended by saying that he stood by all his party workers and would never “ditch” them.