Another embarrassment for Ajit Pawar after irrigation scam

With local body elections in Maharashtra kicking off on December 2, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief is clearly on the defensive. “Not even remotely connected to it,” was all he could manage on Thursday

MUMBAI: This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Ajit Pawar. Or a more convenient time for those who stand to gain at this crucial juncture.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 11, 2024: Ajit Pawar during press conference at MCA lounge, Churchgate in Mumbai, India, on Friday, October 11, 2024. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

With local body elections in Maharashtra kicking off on December 2, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief is clearly on the defensive. “Not even remotely connected to it,” was all he could manage on Thursday.

“The transaction took place in May but it has found its way to the media only now, just ahead of the elections. It is difficult to believe it’s just a coincidence. We are figuring out whether our friends are behind this, or foes. Either way, it’s going to be a headache for Ajitdada,” confided a senior NCP minister and close aide of Pawar.

This is the first controversy to taint Pawar or his family since the irrigation scam that haunted him for more than a decade. It comes at a time when every major political party is scrambling to prove its strength on the ground in what is being billed as a mini-assembly election. And the gloves are off.

The three alliance partners in the ruling Mahayuti government are butting heads over seat sharing, and may even contest opposite each other in some places. Pawar, it is said, wants to corner most of the space once occupied by the undivided NCP. He is also determined to regain power in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, where he could face off against the BJP.

“The probe announced by chief minister Fadnavis into the Pune land deal is not good news. The investigating agencies may join the probe and expand the scope of the investigation. It can give the BJP leverage in dealing with us, in seat sharing for the coming elections as well as in future,” said the worried senior NCP minister.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray sought to link the probe to Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent comment about the BJP’s allies, implying that the controversy is being used to clip Pawar’s wings. “Shah said the BJP doesn’t need clutches of allies. The current development indicates that the BJP will throw away the clutches before the 2029 elections,” Thackeray remarked.

Another NCP leader said it took more than a decade for Pawar to emerge from the shadow of the ₹70,000-crore irrigation scam, where contracts to build dams were allegedly inflated when Ajit Pawar was irrigation minister in the Congress-NCP government. The investigation is ongoing but Pawar has not been indicted so far.

The scam emerged as a key issue during the 2014 assembly elections, when then state BJP president Devendra Fadnavis launched a high-decibel attack on Pawar amid widespread farmer anger.

However Pawar’s political fortunes began to shift in recent years. In 2023, he split the NCP to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP government, further consolidating his position in Maharashtra’s political pantheon.

Just when it looked like the irrigation scam had faded from public memory, Pawar is facing embarrassment over the Pune land controversy. On Thursday, he made a forceful bid to clear his name. “I will not support anything done in violation of rules. I have never called a single officer to do any favours for my relatives. I will not support anyone who has used my name to do something illegal,” he said.

The FIR filed by Pune police late on Thursday did not mention Parth but that of his business partner. Still, the Opposition is gunning for his father. “When farmers demanded loan waivers, the same Ajit Pawar criticised them, saying they expected everything to be free. Now who is usurping government land,” asked Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve.

State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal is pulling no punches. “CM Fadnavis should show the courage to remove Ajit Pawar from office,” he said.

Who is Parth Pawar?

Parth, 35, elder son of Ajit Pawar, has emerged as a key person in the top tier of the NCP led by his father. He made a disastrous political debut when he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Maval in Pune district.

However, he gained political heft within the NCP after Ajit Pawar took over the party in 2023 and joined forces with the BJP. Parth was one of those who advocated the move.

It was he who roped in political consultant Naresh Arora to handle the NCP’s poll campaign in the 2024 assembly elections, and played a hands-on role in the party’s election strategy. He was keen on a Rajya Sabha ticket after the party joined the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition but Ajit nominated his wife, Sunetra. The Pune controversy also comes at a time when there is talk of Pawar’s younger son Jay Pawar making his political debut by contesting the election for municipal council president in Baramati city.