Ceasefire over, gloves are off

Uncle Sharad Pawar dismissed Ajit Pawar's dream of becoming CM, intensifying their feud. The chances of bye-polls for Pune and Chandrapur before 2024 are slim.

As Ajit Pawar completed 100 days in office during his fifth tenure as deputy chief minister last week, the unkindest comment came from his uncle, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. Responding to queries by the media on Thursday, Pawar senior said Ajit’s dream of becoming chief minister of Maharashtra will remain just a dream. Ajit’s aides say he was irked with his uncle’s remarks aimed to ridicule him but chose to keep quiet for the time being.

HT Image

The remarks come at a time when Ajit is trying to throw his weight around in the ruling coalition to force the BJP to get the power-sharing deal implemented. He has been insisting that the three parties share the positions of power and empower their local leaders as well as elected representatives to work to improve the image of the government ahead of the Lok Sabha election. The BJP, especially deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is trying to do a balancing act keeping both chief minister Eknath Shinde and Ajit happy by distributing spoils of power between the three parties. If BJP insiders are to be believed, Shinde is not making Fadnavis’ task any easier by bargaining hard for everything. He has refused to part with guardian ministership of Nashik, Raigad and Satara districts which Ajit has been keen to get. While Ajit has realised he has to struggle for things he wants, there are clear indications that the fight between him and his uncle is going to intensify in the coming days.

The Pawar camp rushed to the Supreme Court seeking directives to Speaker Rahul Narwekar to hear the petition seeking disqualification of Ajit and his ministers. Pawar is trying to push for disqualification petition because according to his legal advisors it is an open and shut case. The apex court’s strong remarks on Narwekar have already rattled rebel MLAs from both Shinde and Ajit camps.

Pawar also made it a point to appear in person for the first hearing of Election Commission. “It is the battle of perception that Ajit and Co are stealing Pawar’s party for power and our leadership is doing everything to ensure this message goes correctly to the party’s support base,” said a key Pawar aide.

In a recent party meeting in Mumbai, state unit chief Jayant Patil insisted that the party workers should not hesitate in attacking the rival faction. “There is no possibility of the two factions coming together now,” Patil said in Pawar’s presence.

To counter Pawar’s plan, Ajit camp has now altered its strategy to deny Pawar a chance to get sympathy of voters. It has decided to stop holding rallies in response to Pawar’s public meetings and also mellow down their attack on him. Looks like the uncle-nephew fight is only going to get worse from here.

As Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil held a massive rally in Jalna on Saturday and trained guns on the ruling alliance, the BJP has alleged that he is reading the script penned by Sharad Pawar.

On the other hand, leaders from the Pawar faction point out how Jarange Patil has been in touch with chief minister Eknath Shinde’s aides like Arjun Khotkar.

While it is still not clear who is advising him, the fact is that Jarange Patil has become popular in the Maratha community especially in the Marathwada region. The rallies he addressed during his tour after he withdrew his fast got a huge response. Jarange Patil himself has been quite shrewd in his strategies. Right from day one, he has managed to keep the focus on himself. Even on Saturday, he ensured that only he would be on the dais. In political circles, opinion is divided about him. Some think, a new Maratha leader is born while others think it’s a temporary phenomenon and the aura around him will fizzle out once the Maratha community realises that his demand for inclusion of all Marathas in the Other Backward Classes is not legally feasible.

With the general elections barely six months away, the chances of Election Commission of India holding byelections for Pune and Chandrapur parliamentary constituencies are as good as over. The Pune seat fell vacant due to the death of BJP MP Girish Bapat in March 2023 while Chandrapur MP Suresh Dhanorkar (Congress) died in June 2023. More than six months have passed since Pune constituency became vacant but the EC did not schedule the election, prompting the Opposition to taunt the ruling alliance saying it was scared to hold elections. BJP leaders, on the other hand, are point fingers at the EC.