Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said he should have parted ways with his uncle Sharad Pawar in 2004 itself when the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) gave up its claim on the chief minister’s post while forming a government in the state in alliance with Congress.
Speaking at a campaign rally at Indapur in Pune district for his wife Sunetra Pawar who is pitted against sitting MP and his cousin Supriya Sule of NCP (Sharad Pawar) in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Pawar said when his uncle made any unexpected political moves, it was called strategy, while his own political decisions are described as betrayal.
“I did not question him (Sharad Pawar) when he toppled the Vasantdada Patil government (in 1978) by not heeding the advice of Yashwantrao Chavan who had given him his first opportunity in politics....or when he questioned Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins in 1999 and split the Congress, and then aligned with the Sonia Gandhi-led party later in that year to form a government in the state,” Mr. Ajit said.
He always ensured that Sharad Pawar controlled all the co-operative institutions, he said, adding, “I always listened to him...so much so that my hair turned grey.” In 2004, when the NCP had won more seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections, its ally Congress was ready to give the chief minister’s post to the Sharad Pawar-led party, Mr. Ajit claimed.
“Late Vilasrao Deshmukh told me that Madam (Sonia Gandhi) has said Congress has no right to claim the CM post. He asked who will be the CM; me, late R.R. Patil or Chhagan Bhujbal. Let NCP announce its CM and Congress will take the deputy chief minister’s post.”
“But we took four additional ministerial berths and gave up the chief minister’s post. Yet, I kept quiet. Now I feel I should have done in 2004 itself what I did now (rebelled against his uncle),” said Mr. Ajit, who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra in July 2023 after splitting the NCP.
In 2014, after the Congress and NCP had fought the elections separately, Sharad Pawar decided to extend outside support to the minority government of the BJP in the name of “strategy,” he said.
“Your political moves are strategy, and my political moves are termed as betrayal?” Mr. Ajit asked.
The NCP had briefly extended outside support to the BJP after the 2014 assembly elections as the Shiv Sena and BJP had yet to agree on power-sharing formula. The Sena later joined the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.
Even in 2017, and then in 2019 when talks were on to form a NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena government, there were parallel moves from the NCP to join hands with the BJP, Mr. Ajit claimed.
He also pointed out that there was a time when his eldest uncle Vasantrao Pawar was with the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) and the young Sharad Pawar, who was with the Congress, worked against him in an election.
“This election is not about family relations, but it is for deciding the future of the country....whether you want Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi as prime minister. We have to focus on the development of the country, make India the third largest economy and a superpower,” he said.
“Modi is ‘vikas purush’. Why did Congress not build highways in 70 years,” he asked.
The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government was working to expedite delayed irrigation projects and improve water supply in the rural areas, Ajit said, seeking votes for the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP alliance.
Baramati, a bastion of the Pawar family, will go to polls on May 7.
