In a scene as dramatic as that early morning of 2019, Ajit Pawar again took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, this time disintegrating the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and virtually rendering the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) defunct as a ‘Maha Break Aghadi’.
In the end, all the speculation over the last couple of months of Ajit being upset within the NCP and wishing to jump ship if given the CM or Deputy CM chair proved to be true.
While NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and his daughter and newly appointed national working president of the party, Supriya Sule, were away to Patna last week to attempt a national opposition front against the BJP, Ajit Pawar’s talks with the BJP were said to be achieving a finality on breaking up the NCP.
Sources told News18 that Ajit was closely in touch with the BJP-Shinde camp over the last one week.
The last straw was Sharad Pawar not committing to making Ajit Pawar the state president of the NCP.
Also, Ajit was ‘given his due’ by the BJP, sources say. “Ajit Pawar always had the majority of the NCP MLAs on his side. He has shown the same today,” a senior BJP leader who closely looks at Maharashtra told News18.
Ajit had always made clear that he had no national ambitions but wanted to head the NCP in Maharashtra.
This, he believed, was needed as the NCP had never been able to come to power in Maharashtra on its own as a regional player unlike the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the TMC in West Bengal, the BRS in Telanagana, YSRCP in Andhra or RJD in Bihar.
The Seeds of Implosion
Political observers say the seeds of the Sunday implosion were sown on June 10 when Sharad Pawar named his daughter Supriya Sule and senior party leader Praful Patel as NCP’s working presidents while no role was announced for Ajit Pawar, who functions as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).
Ajit responded later last month on the 25th foundation day of the NCP saying he wanted to give up the LoP post but openly pitched for the NCP state chief post, a post held by his bete noire and Sharad Pawar’s close aide, Jayant Patil. But Sharad Pawar did not commit to his nephew’s wish.
In the end, this seems to have cost the veteran politician dear with the BJP smelling Ajit’s disgruntlement and sense of humiliation and offering him the post of Deputy Chief Minister along with ministerial posts for his loyalists in the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government.
The back-channel talks that Ajit initiated with the BJP-Shinde regime since May finally bore fruit on Sunday with him pulling off a coup in the NCP.
But will the new uneasy arrangement in the ruling front in Maharashtra last? For now, the BJP looks pleased that it has virtually demolished the Maha Vikas Aghadi after the split in the Shiv Sena last year that led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray government.
This move is also said to be done in light of the Lok Sabha elections where the BJP plans to score big in the 48 seats of Maharashtra with the help of the likes of Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
Wait for the next twist and turn in Maharashtra politics!
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