Sharad Pawar, the Machiavelli of Maharashtra’s politics, has once again demonstrated his strategic prowess by undermining his nephew Ajit Pawar and disrupting the ruling Mahayuti coalition as the Assembly polls inch closer. Having already engineered political splits that thwarted the Mahayuti’s performance in key constituencies during the Lok Sabha election, the elder Pawar is now setting his sights on ensuring similar chaos in the upcoming election.
The Mahayuti is facing growing internal strife in the ‘sugar heartland’ of western Maharashtra owing to defections from the ruling BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP to Pawar senior’s NCP (SP).
By exploiting local rivalries, Pawar senior has significantly weakened Ajit Pawar’s position within the Mahayuti, especially in Assembly constituencies within Baramati, Kolhapur and Solapur.
Harshavardhan Patil, a former Congressman-turned-BJP leader from Indapur (in Baramati) and bitter rival of Ajit Pawar, recently quit the BJP to rejoin Sharad’s camp. Patil’s had major grievances when the Ajit-led NCP faction had aligned itself with the ruling BJP-Shinde Sena last year.
A seeming rapprochement between Ajit Pawar and Harshavardhan Patil was effected by state BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to ensure that Patil campaigned wholeheartedly for Ajit’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, who was fielded from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat as the Mahayuti’s candidate. However, Sunetra Pawar crashed in Baramati contests, losing to her sister-in-law, Supriya Sule.
Besides securing the adhesion of the disgruntled Patil, Sharad Pawar recently poached Sanjeev Raje Naik-Nimbalkar, the brother of Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, a senior member of Ajit’s faction and a prominent figure in the Phaltan region.
In September, Pawar senior managed to engineer the defection of BJP leader from Kolhapur Samarjeet Ghatge, said to be close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Ghatge has been seething ever since his arch-rival Hasan Mushrif, a cabinet minister and another key member in the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, aligned himself with the ruling coalition in wake of Ajit’s rebellion.
Ajit Pawar’s decision to split the NCP founded by his uncle, Sharad Pawar, last year and join forces with the BJP last year seemed like a bold move to stake his claim in Maharashtra’s political landscape. But the uneasy alliance has been more of a liability than an asset for both Ajit and the Mahayuti.
The cracks in the Mahayuti alliance became starkly visible in the immediate aftermath of the recent Lok Sabha election, with Ajit Pawar’s faction winning just one of the four seats it contested - a poor showing that tarnished his image as a kingmaker. Secondly, the undivided NCP’s traditional vote bank—Marathas, Muslims, Dalits, and a section of OBCs—has not fully transferred to the BJP, leaving Ajit’s faction vulnerable within the coalition.
BJP leaders in western Maharashtra, once sworn adversaries of the undivided NCP, have expressed unease at having to compromise with Ajit’s faction which was a Johnny-come-lately in the Mahayuti bandwagon. Such leaders have been resolutely opposed to shaking hands with NCP leaders of Ajit’s faction, whom they had hitherto bitterly fought against. This is the chink in the Mahayuti armour that Sharad Pawar has sought to exploit with remarkable success.
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