Powerplay among Pawars: How Chanakya’s overambition led to his fall

Following the recent political developments in Maharashtra, it has been sad to see a steep and swift fall from grace of strongman Sharad Pawar, who has been at the epicentre of Maharashtra and national politics for about six decades. In 1999, he created a party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and has been able to directly or indirectly influence state power. Largely projected in the media as the ‘Chanakya’ of contemporary India, Pawar is known to pursue politics wherein the end justifies the means. Which is why earlier this week, when Ajit Pawar, his nephew, revolted against him and most of the party chose his side over Sharad Pawar’s, it was a shocking development. Yes, it is true that Maharashtra saw this sort of break in a political party just last year when Eknath Shinde wrested the Shiv Sena from under Uddhav Thackeray’s nose. Even though there may be some similarities, the two episodes are different in their core character. First and foremost, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are simply not comparable personalities. Uddhav as chief minister stayed mostly confined within the walls of his home, Matoshree; his health was a huge worry; he also underwent a major surgery during his tenure and overall stayed away from meeting with party workers and commoners. Uddhav has always been like this — aloof from party workers, living in his own bubble, cut off from reality. He has never really had a connect with karyakartas and depended on other party seniors like Shinde to establish and maintain that relationship. Which is why when most of the Shiv Sena chose Shinde over him, it was understandable. Sharad Pawar, on the other hand, despite being eighty-two, is fully active in party functioning. He regularly meets karyakartas across the state and even holds party meetings. So, in this case when the party chooses to go with Ajit Pawar, it holds deeper significance. It means that the party cadres are rejecting the leadership of an active, fully involved Sharad Pawar and choosing to go with Ajit. This is a hard pill for Sharad Pawar and his daughter, Supriya, to swallow. For the longest time, the father-duo daughter boasted of the iron-hold that Sharad Pawar has on the cadre. His dream of becoming prime minister and to make his daughter the first female chief minister of Maharashtra is well known. The duo has repeatedly made political moves towards those goals. From a man who could potentially be an agreeable prime ministerial candidate for the Opposition to one who couldn’t even hold on to his party, despite being actively involved in day-to-day functioning — the fall from grace has been brutal. Why has this happened? Ajit Pawar has always been the go-to man for the cadre — the problem-solver, fund-raiser, ticket-distributor in the party. He has remained approachable, available, and just present for the party cadre consistently over the years. Sadly, Pawar’s legacy is in tatters now. If only he had retreated when he was at his peak, his legacy would have still stood tall and his daughter may have been able to reap the fruits versus now when all she can do is to clean up the mess with no party, no cadre and no ground support other than a handful of loyalists. The writer is an author of three best-selling books. In her book ‘Trading Power’, she has covered the entire 2019 episode which led to the formation of the MVA government. Views are personal.  Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.