Saheb, Dada, and Tai — NCP spices up Maharashtra politics

Sharad Pawar’s June 10 announcement shows more the crisis in the party than the succession saga of a happy family

The June 10 announcement by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar of appointing his daughter Supriya Sule as working president is not really surprising for anyone who has been following Maharashtra politics. It has always been an open secret that Sule would take over the reins from her father though Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s 63-year-old nephew looked more rooted for the top job.

The announcement, which was made as the NCP celebrates its silver jubilee, shows more the crisis in the party than the succession saga of a happy family.

The announcement is going to have repercussions as it is not only a snub but a sort of no-confidence in Ajit Pawar, who is unlikely to take it lying down. Consider this to gauge Ajit Pawar’s influence in the NCP: 82-year-old Sharad Pawar is informally referred to by second-rung leaders as ‘Kaka’ (uncle). Sharad Pawar is commonly referred to as ‘Saheb’ in Maharashtra’s political circles.

The NCP’s internal developments prompted a prominent Marathi newspaper to go with the headline: ‘pad tai la, charcha dada chi’ — meaning that though tai (as Sule is known to NCP supporters) has been promoted, the debate is what will dada (as Ajit Pawar is known in Maharashtra) will do next.

NCP’s woes

The NCP in its 25 years has failed to produce a significant number of state-level leaders except Ajit Pawar, and state NCP chief Jayant Patil. Though Chagan Bhujbal is from the backward classes, he has failed to achieve the status of the late Gopinath Munde. Sule is articulate and popular, but is more active at the national level.

Two other issues are that the NCP is in the shadow of a tall leader who once was close to becoming Prime Minister, and the party has failed to take root outside Maharashtra. Even in the state, it usually settles at the third or fourth spot.

Ajit Pawar’s play

Ajit Pawar had sprung a surprise after the 2019 assembly polls by lending support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) where Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister in the early hours of November 23, 2019 by then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Three days later on November 26 the government fell. There have been conflicting versions about whether Sharad Pawar, who later became the chief architect of the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena Maha Vikas Aghadi, was in the loop. It was politics as the art of the possible.

Ajit Pawar is an able administrator, but a brash leader and speaker who sometimes lands himself and the party in problems. He was Deputy Chief Minister for a long time and was known for his no-nonsense attitude. The bureaucracy would be on its toes when it came to Ajit Pawar as he knows the administration inside out.

His Achilles heel is the corruption cases filed against him when Prithviraj Chavan was the Chief Minister a decade ago. When in power earlier, the BJP too campaigned against Ajit Pawar.

Now if Ajit Pawar decides to go with the BJP, he would become the second successive Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra assembly to do so. In the last assembly, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of the Congress was the LoP — today he is with the BJP.

A big happy family

Before Sule, who came into politics some two decades back, Ajit Pawar was seen as Sharad Pawar’s successor. The June 10 announcement is bound to create unease in the NCP as Ajit Pawar is elder to Sule and started his political career way before her. He might be keeping his cool for now but tomorrow is another day. Sule has always gone out of the way to show her love and respect for ‘Dada’ projecting that the Pawars are a big happy family.

Two months back there was intense speculation that Ajit Pawar had called a meeting of MLAs amid intense speculation about his growing proximity with the ruling BJP. Though both uncle and nephew denied any such development, the air of suspicion has loomed large.

Though Ajit Pawar is no pushover and commands the loyalty of some NCP leaders, in May Sharad Pawar showed who was the undisputed NCP boss. His surprise moves to quit as party chief and his decision to withdraw it after appeals from numerous supporters were intended to show the dissidents, Ajit Pawar included, that he was the party supremo.

Political Foresight

It is only now that the octogenarian leader has revealed his cards by anointing Sule as NCP’s working president, and made her the party in-charge for Maharashtra.

Ajit Pawar’s hobnobbing with the BJP in recent months and some of his controversial statements on the issue might have helped Sharad Pawar to take this decision.

Some 15 years back, when the NCP emerged as the largest party in the Congress-NCP coalition in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar did not press for the post of the Chief Minister. The reason was simple: He would have been forced to make Ajit Pawar the Chief Minister, and the apprehension would have been that the nephew would sooner than later marginalise the uncle in the party.

Challenges ahead

By appointing 53-year-old Sule as the working president, Pawar has made the best out of a bad bargain. Sule is neither well versed in matters of state politics nor has put in the hard work like Ajit Pawar. Sule does not have the political experience of Ajit Pawar, so, Sharad Pawar will have to be doubly active as the Lok Sabha polls are not far away.

For Sharad Pawar the challenges have doubled, as the BJP which is aiming to make a mark in Maharashtra, might see the NCP as easy prey after splitting the Shiv Sena.

(Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari are senior journalists)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.