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With his nephew Ajit Pawar’s rebellion, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has suffered one of the biggest setbacks of his five-decade political career and the episode has wider implications for the Opposition’s national unity project for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) itself.
Pawar is a shrewd tactician considered one of the lynchpins of the Opposition’s efforts to come together against the BJP ahead of the general elections. But with 40 of NCP’s 53 MLAs backing Ajit, Pawar may not be left with much electoral heft and that will be a body blow to the Opposition’s larger plans.
On Sunday morning, the veteran Maratha leader, when asked about the meeting convened by his nephew in Mumbai, said, “Ajit Pawar is the Leader of the Opposition and he has every right to call a meeting of MLAs. I am not aware of plans.”
Later in the evening, at a press conference in Pune, he struck a defiant tone. “Today’s episode may be new for others, but not for me. I have faith in the people of Maharashtra, especially the youth. We will not fight anyone saying anything by taking NCP’s name, we will go to the people. The NCPs ideology does not allow an alliance with the BJP. Those who violated the party line and took an oath, the decision has to be taken on them. I am not bothered that people have left, but I am worried for their future.”
Pawar went on to say, “Two days back, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) made a statement. That statement was against the NCP and the Congress. At that time, he mentioned two things. He said the NCP was involved in corruption. While stating this he also made mention of the state cooperative bank. He also made reference to the complaint regarding irrigation … I am happy that he has included some members of the NCP in the government. It means there was no truth in the allegations that he made. He has freed all of them from the allegations that he made. And for this, I want to thank the PM.”
Pawar said he had decided to hold a meeting of some prominent party leaders on July 6. “We were going to discuss some issues related to the organisation. Before that, some party members took a different line. They declared that they were the real NCP. In the next two-three days, it will become what stand some party members, especially the MLAs, adopt.”
Meanwhile, Chhagan Bhujbal, one of the NCP’s tallest leaders from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and one of those sworn in on Sunday, put the onus of the rebellion on Pawar himself. “Pawar saheb himself recently told us that PM Modi is going to come back to power in 2024. If that is the case then we should go along with them with a positive mindset and work towards solving issues of the people by taking the help of the government and helping them in return. Fighting on the streets is not going to solve problems. Our endeavour is to be inside the government and address the issues of people.”
For Pawar, his nephew has always been a source of problems. In 2019, after the Assembly elections, Ajit took oath as Deputy CM in an administration led by Devendra Fadnavis, now his fellow Deputy CM. But that experiment was shortlived as most of the MLAs thought to be with Ajit sided with Pawar when he came out against the move. On Thursday, Pawar acknowledged that he too had met Fadnavis to discuss government formation but later changed his mind. This, the NCP leader claimed, was a “googly” he had delivered to expose Fadnavis as “power hungry”. But Fadnavis responded by saying that the move had humiliated Ajit and the BJP asked the NCP to watch out for Fadnavis’ “bouncers” in the coming days. That bouncer landed on Sunday and seemingly took everyone by surprise, including Pawar, the master strategist.
With questions likely to be now raised about the role and importance of Pawar in the Opposition’s scheme of things when he has seemingly lost control of his party, the future of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will be under the scanner. State Congress chief Nana Patole, whose party now becomes the largest constituent of the Opposition alliance, said, “We will wait and see how the situation evolves. You cannot join the BJP government and be part of the Opposition.”
Sanjay Raut Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), another MVA constituent, alleged that bringing in Ajit Pawar and the other NCP leaders was an attempt to safeguard the BJP as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and 16 Sena MLAs would be disqualified soon by the Supreme Court.
“The government will become unstable and hence this new support (NCP MLAs) has been taken. One engine (of the government) is about to break down and hence another engine (in the form of Ajit Pawar) has been attached. CM Shinde will be disqualified soon. He will lose the CM post and soon the state will get a new CM,” he said.
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