NCP pitches Sharad Pawar as UPA chief to stitch anti-BJP national alternative in 2024

With the Congress facing another debacle in the recent Assembly elections in five states, and the unwillingness of most regional parties to accept its leadership, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar is taking an initiative to unify non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties with an intention to form a national coalition that can take on the BJP

With the Congress facing another debacle in the recent Assembly elections in five states, and the unwillingness of most regional parties to accept its leadership, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar is taking an initiative to unify non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties with an intention to form a national coalition that can take on the BJP. For the purpose, he is keen on taking over as convener or chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which is currently headed by Congress’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.

Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar File Photo

On Tuesday, the NCP’s youth wing passed a resolution seeking that Pawar be made the UPA chairperson. The resolution - passed in the presence of Pawar in New Delhi - is seen as the NCP chief’s signal to the Congress as well as other opposition parties that he wants to stitch together a national coalition against the BJP and he wants to do it through the UPA. As expected, the Congress, which is not willing to cede its space to the NCP, has opposed the idea.

Significantly, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said a meeting of non-BJP CMs would be convened in Mumbai soon. There are chances that Pawar will work with Banerjee and Shiv Sena president and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in this initiative though there is no formal confirmation from both the Maharashtra-based parties yet.

NCP insiders said with the Congress being in retreat, and the regional parties presenting a powerful opposition to the otherwise invincible BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pawar may be pitched as the leader to bind these forces to create a national alternative in 2024. Pawar’s credentials as a unifier are bolstered by the drift in the central leadership of the Congress, his experience in public life and role as the architect of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi in the state.

“It is time for Pawar saheb to lead the regional parties as he has a good equation with their leaders,” said Ravikant Varpe, working president of the Maharashtra NCP youth wing, who tabled the motion in the national executive in his party chief’s presence. Varpe said Banerjee and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao had met Pawar in Mumbai. Pawar senior had emerged as the fulcrum of opposition unity, he claimed, with experience and potential to unite the regional parties against the BJP. “The Congress may be a national party, but to ensure coordination with regional groups, Pawar saheb is needed,” Varpe said.

“The conditions in the country are such that Pawar saheb must have an important role in the UPA… he is the only leader capable of bringing together the Congress and regional parties,” said Dheeraj Sharma, national president of the NCP youth wing. He added that like in Maharashtra, Pawar could stitch a rainbow coalition against the BJP in 2024. Sharma, however, hastened to clarify that they had not pitched Pawar as a prime ministerial nominee but as a face of the UPA considering his experience and acceptability.

A senior NCP leader said with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi losing out to Modi twice in 2014 and 2019, the NCP seemed to be presenting Pawar as a unifier to consolidate all anti-BJP forces. He, however, admitted that the NCP had its own inherent limitations. For one, unlike regional satraps like Banerjee, it has never been able to come to power on its own in Maharashtra. Its best showing in the assembly polls has been with 71 of 288 seats in 2004. The NCP has also been unable to touch double digits in its Lok Sabha tally, with its best performance being nine MPs in 2004 and 2009. At present, it has five MPs from Maharashtra and Lakshadweep. Moreover, many regional leaders also have national ambitions.

“The idea seems to be getting Pawar the position of the UPA’s convener if not that of the chairperson to emerge as the consensus candidate in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Pawar is also trying to squeeze the Congress considering the reluctance of the Gandhi family to step aside or overhaul the party and the refusal of regional outfits to accept the dominance of the Congress,” a senior Congress leader said. In Maharashtra, the NCP has already edged out the Congress.

He said by May 2024, when the Lok Sabha elections were scheduled, polls to 11 assemblies, including Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, where the party has a chance of coming to power, were to be held. A poor show by the Congress and the growth of parties like the Aam Aadmi Party would strengthen the demand for a non-Congress face to be pitched as a united opposition nominee against the BJP.

A senior leader of the Maratha community, who is close to Pawar, said while the 81-year-old was battling his age and ailments, what set him apart from most others was his politically active lifestyle. “Pawar has always held Prime Ministerial ambitions, though these have been somewhat tempered since 2014 after the rise of Modi. He is mindful that he does not have the numbers,” he said.

Moreover, the Congress would never accept him as the supreme leader of the UPA as by extension, this would mean that as the leader of the largest opposition front, Pawar was in the fray as a probable Prime Ministerial candidate in 2024, the leader added.

The Congress made it evident that it was not amenable to handing over its space to the NCP at the national level. “Now, Sonia Gandhi is the chairman of the UPA and this is a decision of the UPA’s constituents… Sharad Pawar is a senior leader of this country and we respect him, but any decision about the UPA’s leadership has to be taken by the UPA’s members,” said Maharashtra public works department minister and former chief minister Ashok Chavan.

Hemant Desai, political analyst and senior journalist, said the NCP and the Sena had been lobbying for Pawar as the UPA chief for a year. However, Pawar had maintained a silence over this, though his consent was implied.

“Pawar has an ambition to become the UPA chairperson. But I do not think it will make much of a difference… Pawar is not a nationwide vote catcher. But if Pawar becomes the UPA chief, this may lead to demands from the Congress that he merge the NCP with the Congress,” he added. Desai said Pawar’s party did not have the national heft for him to make a bid for the Prime Minister’s post.

Pawar is known for his personal connect with several prominent opposition leaders. Besides Banerjee, Pawar has cordial relations with Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, and several Left leaders.