Maharashtra 'coup d'état': What led to Ajit Pawar's apparent rift with Pawar senior?

Ajit Anantrao Pawar, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the present Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, took the entire the country by surprise on Saturday morning when visuals of him taking oath alongside BJP's Devendra Fadnavis - who returned as CM - played out across visual-media platforms. Ajit's decision created an apparent fissure in the NCP, whose chief Sharad Pawar distanced himself from his nephew's dramatic action.

Hyderabad:That Ajit Pawar is having a lot of differences with Sharad Pawar was apparent a number of times in the past twenty years. But before elaborating on their dwindling relationship, it is pertinent to take a look at what led to the apparent rift between the duo.

Sharad Pawar does not have a son, and his lone daughter Supriya was happily married and settled in Singapore and was not very keen to join politics.

It is in this backdrop that when in the 1990's Ajit Pawar, nephew of Sharad Pawar (son of Pawar's elder brother Anantrao), became an MP, and then an MLA and then a minister in the ministry of Sudhakarrao Naik, everybody presumed that he is going to inherit Pawar's political legacy.

In the next ten years, Ajit Pawar emerged from being a junior minister to a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and later became a deputy chief minister.

His first disagreement with his uncle was made known to the media in 2004 when the NCP had bagged two seats more than the Congress (NCP – 71, Congress 69) in the assembly elections.

Ajit Pawar wanted that the NCP should claim the post of Chief Minister, which was until then with the Congress. Clearly, Ajit wanted this post for himself. But senior Pawar was not ready for this. For some reason, he insisted that the NCP should retain the important portfolios instead of claiming the chief minister's post. Some observers feel that Pawar's political calculations at the center, where the NCP was a major partner in the Manmohan Singh government were responsible for his stance.

Ultimately, Ajit had to accept his uncle's argument. And so it happened a number of times thereafter.

In the 2009 assembly elections, it was openly said that Ajit Pawar is trying to give tickets to his own men and building up his own faction within the NCP.

In 2012, he had decided to give up all his ministerial portfolios and resigned as Deputy Chief Minister over accusations of irregularities in irrigation projects during his tenure as the Water Resources Minister.

The Prithviraj Chavan government had slipped into a crisis following this.

A number of NCP ministers were forced to submit their resignations to show solidarity with Ajit, a move often seen as a deliberate show of strength by him.

Finally, Sharad Pawar had to step in and asked all of the MLA's to withdraw their resignations. It was then widely reported in the media that senior Pawar warned Ajit not to play divisive politics.

In 2014, Congress and NCP lost power both at the centre and in the state. The BJP leaders had said multiple times, during the election campaign, that Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders are supposed to be in jail owing to their role in the alleged corruption in irrigation projects and other schemes.

So, when the BJP came to power they initiated an inquiry against Ajit and others, hence pushing the former Water Resources Minister at the backfoot.

According to sources Ajit Pawar often felt that he is being targeted because he is the nephew of Sharad Pawar. He was perturbed and thought that he did not deserve it. But many others feel that Ajit was not willing to fight it out politically as he is not really a mass leader like his uncle.

There could be some truth in this observation.

Just ahead of the 2019 assembly elections, when Sharad Pawar dared ED to go ahead and take action against him, the same evening Ajit Pawar suddenly resigned from the post of MLA for no reason. Since the assembly was already going to be dissolved, Ajit's resignation meant nothing.

But many felt that he was about to join the BJP as many such MLAs had earlier resigned and joined either the BJP or Sena till then. Some others saw this as a move to put senior Pawar in shadow, who has earned a lot of sympathy for challenging the ED.

Ajit said that he felt sorry for his 79-year-old uncle that he had to face such action against him. Many did not buy this reasoning and felt that Ajit was feeling that senior Pawar was stealing the show at the expense of leaders like him.

Ajit probably felt that veteran leaders like his uncle Sharad Pawar would escape unhurt from the ED's investigation, but other leaders like him who are facing various charges could suffer. To put an end to all this, Ajit wanted to join the BJP or go along with it.

It is very interesting to note that Sharad Pawar did not say anything about whether Ajit's action was right or wrong or talked about the probable reasons behind it. He merely said that in the Pawar family everybody abides by his word and Ajit will have to listen.

But perhaps, Ajit is not in a mood to follow the distracts issued by his uncle anymore. Apparently, he feels that he has had enough.

And in the hindsight, it may be said that Ajit started parting ways with Sharad Pawar since the Lok Sabha elections.

Ajit's son Parth wanted to contest a Lok Sabha election and Ajit was all for it while Sharad Pawar was against it.

Going against his wishes, Ajit ensured that Parth gets a ticket. Parth fought the election from Maval in Pune district. In a way, it was a very tough constituency and ultimately Parth lost miserably. It was a very rare occasion of somebody from Pawar's family losing an election, and that too, in their own Pune district. People close to him say that Ajit felt that the party and the leaders did not put in efforts to ensure Parth's victory following which he had to face a defeat.

On the other hand in the assembly election, Rohit Pawar, another of Sharad Pawar's grandson and Parth's cousin, stood from Karjat and won very handsomely. He earned a lot of popularity and strode ahead of Parth in the race within the family. Ajit must have been an unhappy father though he did not say so openly.

Secondly, of late, Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya was getting a lot of prominence in the party's decision making. Though for very long Sharad Pawar and Supriya have made it very clear that Supriya is not interested in working in the state and happy being an MP and functioning in Delhi, the nagging doubts remain. And Ajit is said to be worried about his and his son's political career in the party.

Thirdly, for very long Ajit Pawar was observing Pawar's style of politicking - on one hand, Sharad Pawar was hobnobbing with the BJP and Modi and on the other wanted to retain his image of a secular and respectable leader from the Congress camp.

Ajit perhaps felt that senior Pawar's style of functioning benefitted to him alone and nobody else.

It could be surmised safely that he was fed up with remaining under a cloud of fear of being trapped for some of the other allegations.

It must not have been very easy for Ajit to break away from Sharad Pawar, who was like his father, philosopher and guide all along. But today he must have gathered the courage and took the drastic step finally.

What are the Ajit's strengths and weaknesses?

Ajit Pawar is a good administrator. At a very young age, as a chairman of Pune District Cooperative Bank, which was incurring a huge loss before he took charge, he revived the bank.

His handling of many sugar factories, some of them cooperative while others were private, is said to be commendable.

As a minister, he was known to be a sharp administrator and used to command the respect of the bureaucrats. Within the party, he is a good organiser and no-nonsense person.

But there are a number of weaknesses in Ajit Pawar.

Biggest being that he is not a mass leader. He can not build a party from scratch like the way his uncle did a number of times. Secondly, he does not like to be a deputy of somebody for very long.

Thirdly, until now he always had the advantage of being a Pawar and protection which he enjoyed because of that. He will lose both of the things.

Also, never in his life, has he dealt with anybody or any party as a leader of the separate group which does not have the patronage of Sharad Pawar. So it will not be easy for him.