How Param Bir Singh-Deshmukh faceoff puts NCP chief Sharad Pawar in a tough spot

he allegations against home minister Anil Deshmukh have put Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in a tight spot.

Pawar is considered as the architect of the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra. He brought the three parties from different sides of the political spectrum together to form a government and keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) away from power in a crucial state like Maharashtra. Over the past 15 months, Pawar has not just been monitoring the functioning of the government but also stepping in to resolve the crisis or advise chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on handling the same.

Even in case of Antilia bomb scare-Sachin Vaze issue, Pawar held meeting with Thackeray last week following which Param Bir Singh was removed as Mumbai police commissioner.

It was portrayed by MVA that Hemant Nagrale was brought in as the new police chief to clean up the mess in Mumbai Police.

Till then, the Shiv Sena was at the receiving end of the flak over its links with Vaze. Following Singh’s letter, things have changed. Now Pawar’s party is facing a crisis of credibility and Pawar has to take a call on removal of Deshmukh.

According to NCP insiders, Pawar was already planning to shift Deshmukh out of the home department. HT has reported how Pawar was mulling different options as Deshmukh’s successor in home department. According to party leaders, he planned to shift Deshmukh out of the home department after some time so as to avoid the impression that Deshmukh’s removal had something to do with Vaze case.

However, in the changed circumstances, he may have to take action immediately though the party top brass was deliberating whether Deshmukh should be asked to resign immediately. State NCP chief Jayant Patil rejected the Opposition’s demand for Deshmukh’s removal.

Significantly, Deshmukh was not Pawar’s first choice for the post of home minister when MVA was formed in 2019. Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar was keen on the home portfolio but several senior NCP leaders were not in favour of the same since Ajit had an anti-corruption bureau probe pending against him in connection with alleged irregularities in irrigation projects during his tenure as irrigation minister in Congress-NCP government. Pawar would have preferred Patil, but Ajit was opposed to it.

As such Deshmukh was selected as a candidate acceptable to everybody.

However, the way Deshmukh handled Antilia bomb scare-Vaze case inside and outside the state legislature did not impress the NCP top brass.

According to NCP chief’s close aides, Pawar was considering Ajit, Patil and health minister Rajesh Tope for the portfolio.

The problem, however, may not end here for Pawar.

This episode has put a question mark over the credibility of his party and not just MVA. Besides, it is not yet known what would be the fallout of the Antilia-Vaze case.

“NIA is still conducting the probe. We don’t know what Vaze has told the agency. Singh’s allegations of Vaze’s links with Deshmukh have made things difficult for MVA. The BJP may push for dismissal of the government in the state citing collapse of law and order,” said a senior NCP minister.

Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis has been insisting that the Antilia case has links to higher-ups in the MVA government. He had alleged that Vaze was a “recovery agent” for some people in the government.

“Despite the indications by Fadnavis, MVA, as well as NCP leadership, could not anticipate what could happen next. The government which looked pretty comfortable a few months ago now looks vulnerable. It is facing its worst crisis. People believed that Pawar could run a government efficiently. That belief may not last long with this kind of crises. There could also be doubts among legislators if Pawar can bail the MVA out of trouble. And this could affect the stability of the coalition government,” said political analyst Hemant Desai.