Fadnavis steps in to douse fires in Ajit’s Baramati

PUNE: Deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as a prime firefighter dousing many conflagrations for leaders among the BJP’s alliance partners, particularly Ajit Pawar, for whom the stakes in Baramati are very high. During the past one week, Fadnavis has held a series of meetings with BJP leaders Rahul Kul and Harshwardhan Patil and Shiv Sena member Vijay Shivtare to address their grievances against the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

Kul, Patil and Shivtare are important for Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, to win the Baramati Lok Sabha polls, as they enjoy reasonable clout in their respective assembly segments, which are part of the Baramati parliamentary seat. Kul is a BJP legislator from Daund, Patil has represented Indapur thrice and Shivtare was MLA from Purandar twice.

Fadnavis met Patil thrice in Mumbai and addressed his concerns. “I was called for a discussion on the Lok Sabha polls across western Maharashtra, including Baramati,” said Patil, a known detractor of Ajit, particularly in the politics of Indapur. “I conveyed my supporters’ stand to Fadnavis on the issue. The meeting was positive.”

The deputy CM also held a meeting with Rahul Kul and his wife Kanchan Kul on Friday. In 2019, Kanchan Kul, as a BJP nominee, had contested against Supriya Sule in a fiercely fought battle. “I met Fadnavis to discuss various issues from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency,” said Rahul Kul.

Earlier on Thursday, Fadnavis, along with chief minister Eknath Shinde, worked out a peace formula between deputy CM Ajit Pawar and Shivtare at the CM’s official residence in Mumbai. Shivtare had declared that he would contest the Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate from the Baramati constituency.

A day later, Fadnavis once again met him at his official bungalow, Sagar, and convinced him to withdraw from the race. Shivtare then changed his stand. “To avoid inconvenience to the CM and Mahayuti alliance, I have decided not to contest the polls from Baramati. I had earlier met the CM and Fadnavis, and they advised me to change my stand,” said Shivtare, who announced the decision on Saturday.

Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) chief Mahadev Jankar was another leader who, in a surprise move, returned to the Mahayuti last week and is set to contest the polls from Parbhani as an NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate. Jankar was flirting with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP till a few days ago, with the latter promising him a nomination from Madha.

Had Jankar, a leader from the Dhangar (shepherd) community, contested from Madha on the Pawar NCP ticket, it would have posed another problem for Sunetra Pawar in the neighbouring constituency of Baramati. Both Madha and Baramati have sizeable voters from the Dhangar community, which had helped Jankar put up a tough fight against Supriya Sule in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when he lost by only 55,000 votes. According to BJP sources, it was Devendra Fadnavis who brought Jankar back into the alliance, and promised him that he would be fielded from Parbhani.

Fadnavis, according to BJP sources, has also asked workers of the RSS and BJP to work for Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati campaign.