NCP (SP) Chief Sharad Pawar.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Dressed in his trademark and iconic spotless white shirt and white trousers, two Pilot pens in his shirt pocket, white round-dial watch and usually a file in his left hand, Sharad Pawar, is ready early in the mornings and generally have a long day.
The routine is the same, days before he turns 84 on 12 December.
In the six decades of his political career – he has earned sobriquet like ‘Maratha strongman’, ‘Chanakya’, 'Machiavelli' and ‘Bheeshma Pitamaha’ of Indian politics.
Like his uncle too, Ajit Pawar, a five-time Deputy Chief Minister, is an early riser and hits the field in the morning - and is one of the best administrators with a no-nonsense attitude.
Ajit Pawar not only successfully claimed the NCP and iconic clock symbol, he cemented his position after the Assembly polls as NCP President - and successfully claimed the legacy of Baramati.
This has increased challenges for Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, who is the NCP (SP) Working President.
During the Lok Sabha polls, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), which now depends on the man-blowing-tutari symbol, had the best strike rate winning 8 of the 10 seats. Now he is at the bottom of the six main parties of Maharashtra.
The Lok Sabha polls saw Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar fighting Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, however, the latter won the polls by a huge margin. Sunetra Pawar was later made a Rajya Sabha member with BJP support. The NCP lost three of the four seats - the exception being the state unit President Sunil Tatkare who won the Raigad seat.
In the Assembly polls, Ajit Pawar won the polls for the eighth time defeating his own nephew Yugendra Pawar, the son of his brother Shriniwas Pawar.
The NCP and NCP (SP) contested 59 and 86 seats, respectively.
According to latest trends at 1700 hrs of winning/leading positions, NCP and NCP (SP) were commanding 41 and 10, respectively.
In Sharad Pawar's home turf of the sugar belt of Western Maharashtra, the NCP (SP) has fared badly.
“This is a big blow to Sharad Pawar. After the formation of the NCP 25 years ago, this is his worst performance and poorest strike rate,” said Prakash Akolkar, veteran political analyst and writer.
For the Congress too it is a shocker, as Sharad Pawar has played a crucial role in forging the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc at the national level after the experiment of Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra.
Perhaps, Sharad Pawar has judged what was coming and during the campaign announced his retirement.
“…I am not in power (now). I am in Rajya Sabha and the last one-and-a-half-years are left. I will have to take the decision as to whether to go to the Rajya Sabha again. I will not contest Lok Sabha, nor will I contest any election (as I have announced earlier)…I have already contested 14 (Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha) elections. How many times shall I contest…the younger generation needs to be given opportunity…You never let me go home in any of these elections, you made me win every election…but I need to stop somewhere…I became a minister of state and cabinet minister. I became Chief Minister four times. I worked as Defence Minister and later as Agriculture Minister,” he had said.
His attacks on those who left and calling them traitors did not go down well.
The Supreme Court's recognition of Ajit Pawar's faction as the "real" NCP and the Speaker’s ruling diminished Sharad Pawar’s grip on the party and his standing in Maharashtra politics.
Maharashtra Assembly poll 2024 results| Check constituency results here
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Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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