Ajit Pawar rebels again, joins Shinde cabinet with 8 others

Mumbai: Since 2019 stunning somersaults have become the leitmotif of Maharashtra politics. On Sunday, in another such move, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar broke ranks with his uncle Sharad Pawar to join the Shinde-Fadnavis government. He was sworn in as deputy chief minister along with 8 other colleagues from the NCP.

The NCP split comes exactly a year after the cleaving of the Shiv Sena, and it was executed with similar stealth and precision. At least 37 of the NCP’s 55 MLAs have defected with Ajit Pawar, and more are likely to follow.

The Raj Bhavan staff was alerted only a couple of hours before the swearing in and such was the haste that even families of most ministers who took oath did not have time to reach Raj Bhavan for the ceremony. A senior BJP leader said the decision to induct Ajit Pawar in the state cabinet was taken last week by union home minister Amit Shah in consultation with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The depletion of both the Shiv Sena and the NCP now raises questions over the effectiveness of the Maha Vikas Aghadi which had offered the BJP such stiff resistance since 2019. While Ajit Pawar has said that the entire party is with him and that the NCP will formally be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, Sharad Pawar declared that unlike Uddhav Thackeray, he will not be seeking a legal recourse following the split, but would rather go to the people directly. When asked at a press briefing about who would now be the face of the NCP, Sharad Pawar simply raised his hand. The party’s state president and legislative party chief Jayant Patil said late on Sunday night that they have begun exploring legal options against those who have joined the government.

Under the present anti-defection law, at least two-thirds of the party MLAs need to break away from the original party and merge with another existing party in the Assembly. However, last year, when he split the Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde upended this by claiming that his faction was the original Shiv Sena and not Uddhav’s faction. Ajit Pawar similarly indicated on Sunday that it was he who represented the real NCP.

“Most of the MLAs and leaders are with us. We, as NCP, decided to join the government to resolve the issues of the people. We will contest all the upcoming elections as NCP on its election symbol — the clock,” Ajit told the media after the swearing in. He argued that if the party could join hands with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena then why couldn’t it do so with the BJP as both were considered equally “communal.”

A senior BJP leader speaking to HT off-the-record disclosed that Devendra Fadnavis had been trying to get Ajit Pawar to cross over since April of this year. This, he added, was part of the BJP’s Mission 45 to win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Maharashtra with 48 MPs is crucial to the party’s Lok Sabha plans.

The BJP has been worried about Eknath Shinde’s performance as chief minister but with the break up in the NCP, the BJP thinks it’s now in a near-unassailable position ahead of the polls. “Western Maharashtra is key to us where the NCP is strong in 9 constituencies,” said the BJP leader. This includes Baramati, the Pawar family stronghold, and from where Ajit Pawar is the sitting MLA.

After the swearing in Ajit Pawar announced that he had the blessing of all party leaders but this was later disputed by Sharad Pawar. The recently-appointed working president of the NCP, Praful Patel, who shared the dais with Ajit Pawar and rebel leader Chhagan Bhujbal, said, “We have taken this decision (to join the government) united as a party and we stand with Ajit Pawar.” He added that he would always the thankful to Sharad Pawar who gave him positions of responsibility from the time he stepped into politics.

Chandarashekhar Bawankule, the state BJP president, said, “NCP MLAs have joined the government reposing faith in Prime Minister Modi and their strengthening the government will help Maharashtra take a leap into the future. We’re happy that two deputy CMs will now work for Maharashtra.”

Chief minister Eknath Shinde who kept a low profile ffor most of the day, told the media that his formerly double-engine government would now run “like a bullet train.”

Disqualification plea against 9 MLAs

State NCP president Jayant Patil declared that they have moved disqualification petitions against the nine MLAs who were inducted as ministers in the Shinde government. “Their act is illegal and as they kept Pawar in the dark, a complaint was filed with the disciplinary committee of the party headed by Jayprakash Dandegaonkar. Following the recommendation of the committee, NCP has moved disqualification petitions against the nine MLAs with the state legislature through mail. A physical copy will also be submitted soon. We have requested Speaker Rahul Narvekar to hear our side,” Patil said. He also added that they have approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) about the same.