The roots of the Ajit-Sharad rift

Last Friday night, when the leaders of what eventually would become the Maharashtra Vikas Aaghadi (Maharashtra Progressive Front) met to discuss the details of their coalition, Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was becoming increasingly impatient as the evening progressed. According to Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Sanjay Raut, “The gentleman’s demeanour was suspicious and he suddenly left the meeting.” On Saturday morning, when the country woke up to BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as chief minister for a second term, with Ajit Pawar as his deputy, the question on everyone’s mind was, “Why did Ajit Pawar betray Sharad Pawar?”

The answer, like much of Maharashtra politics, is not simple. In the immediate instance, Ajit – already elected the party’s legislative party chief – was becoming impatient because his uncle and party boss Sharad Pawar had not categorically spoken about his preferred choice for deputy to Shiv Sena’s choice for chief minister. This was not the first time this happened to the nephew, practically his political heir.

The rift, actually a cold war, goes back to October 2009, when Ashok Chavan of the Congress was appointed chief minister for the second time. Congress had won 82 seats to NCP’s 62. When it was time for Sharad Pawar to choose a deputy chief minister, he picked Chhagan Bhujbal over Ajit Pawar. The latter’s opportunity sit on the deputy CM’s chair came only in November 2010. Would Jayant Patil – current NCP state chief and its new legislative party head – be to Ajit Pawar in 2019 what Chhagan Bhujbal was in 2009? On Friday night, would history have repeated itself?

The second significant apparent disagreement between the two took place over a 2019 Lok Sabha election ticket to Parth Pawar – Ajit’s elder son. Sharad Pawar felt that Parth, 29, should not use his family’s affiliation to the party to get a ticket and that he should rise through the ranks. The nephew’s views diverged, and he pressured Sharad Pawar enough to offer his grand-nephew a ticket from Maval constituency. Parth eventually lost. Insult was added to injury when Sharad Pawar offered an assembly ticket to his other grandnephew Rohit Pawar to fight from the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency. Rohit won.

Ever since Sharad Pawar decided to join hands with the Congress in an electoral alliance in the early 2000s, he has ensured that his support for Ajit Pawar is balanced with the encouragement of other second-tier leaders such as RR Patil, Jayant Patil, Dhananjay Munde and his daughter Supriya Sule. Ajit, therefore, has rarely had the taste of being on top, despite being given the impression he is the chosen one.

In the most recent instance, a month before this year’s assembly elections, the Enforcement Directorate decided to open an investigation into the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam. The then chairman of the bank? Ajit Pawar. The same month, Ajit Pawar resigned from the state legislature and was “missing” in action. Meanwhile, to retain party unity, Sharad Pawar told the ED that he will land up at their office should they want to ask him questions. That eventually did not happen after a large crowd of NCP supporters gathered outside the ED office in Mumbai, and the Mumbai police chief went to Sharad Pawar’s residence to convince him to not visit the investigators.

However, the damage was done and Ajit Pawar’s disillusionment was obvious.

It is a matter of conjecture whether Ajit Pawar’s Friday night decision to abandon his party and family and collaborate with BJP was due all these incidents. But the evidence points to that. And just like the state received a fractured mandate, the NCP may have a fractured relationship for a while.