Ajit Pawar’s Maha shocker: What led him to revolt against his uncle Sharad Pawar?

It was a Sunday shocker. Ajit Pawar, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and nephew of Sharad Pawar, changed his alliance on Sunday and joined the Maharashtra government led by Eknath Shinde. While he took oath as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, eight other MLAs, including party veterans like Chhagan Bhujbal and Praful Patel, also were sworn into the Cabinet. The move has shaken up the political circles in Maharashtra, with the NCP filing a disqualification petition against the leaders including Ajit Pawar. Addressing a press conference late Sunday, Patil said the disqualification petition has been sent to Speaker Rahul Narvekar. NCP supremo reacting to the developments also said that that his nephew Ajit Pawar’s decision to jump ship and be sworn in as the deputy chief minister in the Maharashtra government, led by Shiv Sena and BJP, was “not a big thing”. “Two days ago Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a statement about the NCP. He mentioned two things in his statement: that the NCP is a finished party and he referred to the irrigation complaint and allegations of corruption. I am happy that some of my colleagues have taken the oath. From their joining the NDA government, it is clear that all the charges have been cleared. I am thankful to him,” said Sharad Pawar, who will also be addressing a public meeting today (Monday). As Ajit Pawar ’s seismic move prompts actions and reactions, many believe that while shocking, the NCP leader’s move isn’t surprising. The signs were present for a while now. As Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance said that they were already aware of the recent move by NCP leader Ajit Pawar and few party MLAs to join the NDA-led Maharashtra government. We present a timeline of events which lead to Ajit Pawar’s Sunday move and also show that the move was in the making for a long time. First signs of dissent Ajit Pawar, the son of Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Anantrao, has been by his uncle’s side since he made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was elected to the board of a sugar cooperative. He has been by his uncle’s side since 1991-1992 and has been an elected MLA from the Baramati Assembly Constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and previously in 2019 winning by a vote margin of 1,65,265 votes. Ajit Pawar has made no secret of his political ambitions and the first sign that things weren’t good between uncle and nephew was in 2009 when he first came forward to openly criticise Sharad Pawar’s decision making and leadership style. Ajit threatened to resign from all party positions and it was after much negotiations that he reconciled with his uncle and returned to the fold. [caption id=“attachment_12816622” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar with his wife and party leader Ajit Pawar. Ajit Pawar has been by his uncle’s side since 1991. File image/PTI[/caption] Rise of the son In 2019, before the Lok Sabha elections, differences between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar once again cropped up and this time it was over Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth. While Ajit was insistent that his son contest the elections from Maval constituency, his uncle was not in favour of the idea. Pawar senior’s reasoning was that if so many members of the family contested, it would leave the party cadre disheartened. However, Pawar senior surrendered to family pressure and declared his withdrawal from the polls, saying only two members from the family should contest polls at the time. At the time, Sharad Pawar was prepared to contest from Madha constituency and had declared his daughter Supriya Sule’s name as the candidate from Baramati. Parth, unfortunately, lost to Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne by over two lakh votes, becoming the first member of the Pawar family member to lose an election. Parth then had claimed that leaders and workers of the NCP in Pimpri-Chinchwad didn’t put in their best efforts. “In Pimpri and Chinchwad assembly segments, where I trailed heavily, the party workers and leaders were not seen aggressively campaigning for me. I think these two segments let me down badly,” Parth was quoted as saying. Soon after the Lok Sabha elections, the NCP supremo was seen promoting his other grandson, Rohit, the son of his nephew, Rajendra. With Pawar’s encouragement, Rohit successfully contested the Assembly elections from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency in Ahmednagar district. The revolt of 2019 Perhaps the clearest indication that ties between uncle and nephew were strained came in November 2019. The junior Pawar joined hands with the BJP to form the government along with Devendra Fadnavis after the Assembly elections, claiming he had support of several NCP MLAs. He took the oath as deputy chief minister in a surprise and shocking move in the wee hours of the morning. However, the government lasted only for 80 hours as he was unable to create a split within his party. At the time of his revolt, Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar’s daughter, had shared her Whatsapp status that read: ‘Party and family split’. However, when asked to speak on the matter, both she and her father refused to comment, with Sharad Pawar even adding that he did not support nephew Ajit’s move. Later, he returned to his own party fold and again took oath as deputy chief minister, this time as a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition. He served in the post until June 2022 when the Uddhav Thackeray-led government collapsed. [caption id=“attachment_12816652” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] NCP leaders Supriya Sule and Ajit Pawar during a special session of Maharashtra Assembly, at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai. The image was taken after Ajit Pawar’s shortlived revolt in 2019 when he joined hands with BJP and was sworn in as deputy chief minister. File image/PTI[/caption] The rise of Supriya Sule In May, NCP chief Sharad Pawar delivered a shocker of his own when he announced that he would be stepping down as party lead. While most leaders asked Pawar senior to rethink his decision, Ajit Pawar had then said, “Pawar Saheb himself had said about the necessity of change in guard a few days back. We should see his decision in the light of his age and health also. Everyone has to take a decision according to time, Pawar Saheb has taken a decision and he won’t take it back”, he added. Political pundits saw Ajit Pawar’s statement as a sign that he was angling for a bigger space within the party and was assuming to be named as the next chief. However, after withdrawing his resignation, Sharad Pawar appointed Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as the party’s working presidents, overlooking his nephew. This is considered as the major reason for his defiance of his uncle to join the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. **Also read: How Supriya Sule, not Ajit Pawar, has emerged as frontrunner to lead NCP** Moreover, he also skipped a crucial NCP executive meeting in June, with the BJP saying that Sharad Pawar was neglecting Ajit and engaging in unhealthy politics. And just days before his shock move, Pawar had also said he didn’t want the position of Leader of Opposition. He was then quoted as saying, “I have asked the party to relieve me from the post of the LoP. I want to work for the party and fulfil responsibilities given by it.” It is left to be seen how long this revolt will last? Will Ajit Pawar be able to engineer a split within the NCP or will Sharad Pawar’s political acumen come out on top? Only time will tell, but for now the NCP looks weak. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. 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