Pawar Games: Strongman Stumped

While Sharad Pawar was enjoying the national limelight, Ajit Pawar stole the NCP away from him.

While Sharad Pawar was enjoying the national limelight, Ajit Pawar stole the NCP away from him.

While Sharad Pawar was enjoying the national limelight, Ajit Pawar stole the NCP away from him.

After trying for the better part of a decade to quell nephew Ajit Pawar’s aggressive ambitions, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar has finally suffered a setback. The nephew has grown out of the uncle’s dominating shadow and emerged as a frontrunner to head the NCP. Political circles are abuzz with talk that the NCP is slipping out of Sharad Pawar’s hands and is likely to fall into the lap of his nephew.

After being denied what he thought was his rightful legacy—becoming the political heir of his uncle—Ajit decided to chart his own course in Maharashtra politics. Since the day Pawar chose his daughter Supriya Sule as his political successor, Ajit had been silently fuming. While Sule was kept busy with national politics, Ajit worked overtime to strengthen his base within the party and amongst the elected representatives. Finally, when Chief Minister Ashokrao Chavan was dumped by the Congress, following his involvement in the Adarsh Co-operative Society scam, Ajit challenged his uncle by staking claim to the Deputy Chief Minister’s chair—a job Sharad Pawar was not keen on handing over to him.

Sharad Pawar had been losing his grip over the NCP since his party’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha and Assembly election of 2009. The popular belief within the NCP is that Sharad Pawar is unable to control his partymen, particularly his nephew. Though Ajit was not keen on joining national politics, he did not expect his uncle to vacate the Baramati seat (a Pawar bastion) for his daughter. From the moment this decision was announced, partymen say, Ajit started establishing his hold on the NCP.

Sharad Pawar’s ill-health too, in a way, worked in favour of Ajit. Besides, owing to the dominance of Marathas in the NCP, other caste factions have started moving away from the party. The Maratha reservation issue, and the NCP’s endorsement of the same, also created a wedge with other caste factions, particularly OBCs. In a face-saving measure, Sharad Pawar had made Chhagan Bhujbal—an OBC—the Deputy Chief Minister.
Sharad Pawar’s argument that another Maratha could not be made the Deputy Chief Minister while the top job was also held by a Maratha (Ashokrao Chavan), did not pacify the angry Ajit, who wanted to be Deputy Chief Minister.

Ajit Pawar’s temper was always cited as one of his shortcomings, and senior NCP leaders Praful Patel and DP Tripathi projected Sule as the better politician. Sensing this threat to his political future, Ajit launched a two-pronged strategy. He concentrated on installing his own men in key party positions. And, he also worked on his popularity graph. Ajit knew that his arrogance, temper and straight-forward approach were not popular. “Ajit dada does not mince words. In the first meeting he will tell you whether your work can be done or not. He will not waste time with false assurance. He is not popular, as no one wants to be told that their work will not be done,” says a senior party leader.

After the 2009 polls, thus, Ajit had the support of a majority of the party’s MLAs. Yet, citing caste equations, Pawar intervened and made Bhujbal the Deputy Chief Minister. A disappointed Ajit threatened revolt. According to sources, Pawar had calmed him down with the assurance that there would be new Deputy Chief Minister after some months. With the sacking of Ashokrao Chavan, Ajit seized his moment.

This time, Ajit did not wait for his uncle’s word, nor did he reveal his plans to him. He simply walked into the office of NCP state chief Madhukar Pichad with all the MLAs supporting him, and demanded that he be made Deputy Chief Minister. Faced with such aggression, NCP central observers Tariq Anwar and Praful Patel had to acquiesce. It is reliably learnt that Ajit categorically told his uncle that he would not sacrifice his long-term ambition (to become Deputy Chief Minister) at the altar of caste equations.

Having worked closely with his uncle for nearly three decades, 50-year old Ajit knows all of Pawar’s moves.

With Ajit realising his ambition, it has become clear that Sharad Pawar’s loyalists are not in his good books and he will work to sideline them. Sources say that Ajit made sure that Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, a former Deputy Chief Minister and a close aide of his uncle, lost the 2009 Assembly poll. Jayant Patil was stripped of the crucial finance portfolio and shunted to the rural development department. Dilip Walse-Patil, Pawar’s blue-eyed boy, was made the speaker of the Assembly, a job that Dilip hates. Bhujbal, the ex-Deputy Chief Minister, has been demoted to handling the public works department.

Ajit’s rise was facilitated by Sharad Pawar’s inability to control the warring factions within his party. Recently, Sharad Pawar had to threaten action against two ministers, RR Patil and Jayant Patil, whose turf war had reached a public meeting being held at Sangli, western Maharashtra, an area considered Sharad Pawar’s stronghold. The two Patils had engaged in a bitter turf war, notwithstanding Sharad Pawar’s displeasure with their public spat.

Not just his partymen, senior NCP leaders say that their boss can no longer control his nephew either. “Ajit dada is basically a dictator. The party cadre likes this style. The NCP has to move out of the shadow of the Congress. Saheb (Pawar) has compromised much with the Congress, Ajit dada will not. The time will soon come to choose between Saheb and Ajit dada, and everyone will choose Ajit dada unanimously,” says a senior leader.

Though nobody is willing to go on record, it is clear that Ajit also subverted his uncle’s orders to change the portfolios of new ministers. Though Pawar’s men, too, were inducted in the new ministry, Ajit ensured the allocation of plum portfolios to his acolytes.

In recent years, Sharad Pawar has reduced his role in the party’s state affairs, focusing more on his job in Delhi and his responsibilities as chief of the International Cricket Council. He has left Maharashtra affairs largely to Praful Patel, RR Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal. However, Pawar’s meetings with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan have surprised many. Rather uncharacteristically, he personally handed over the list of NCP ministers to Chavan.

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