STAYING PAWAR
The shrewd NCP boss demonstrated his political skill and stamina in brokering an alliance between the Congress and the Shiv Sena—and then seeing off the BJP’s attempt to win over his own MLAs By Kiran D. Tare and Kaushik Deka
Politics may be the art of the possible. How else does one account for what happened on November 25 at Mumbai’s Hyatt Hotel. Fifty-six MLAs of the Shiv Sena took an oath of loyalty to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, besides their own chief, Uddhav Thackeray. Till a month ago, the Sena’s politics had revolved around bitter opposition to the NCP and the Congress, often descending into personal attacks directed at their party chiefs. And now, if this incredible moment was playing out on television, it was all because of the political acumen, perseverance and networking skills of Pawar, the original strongman of Maharashtra politics.
“It is a good opportunity for me to rebuild the party with young leaders,” Pawar, 79, had told india today on October 6, even as his party was coming to terms with the defection of seven MLAs to the BJP and the Sena in the run-up to the October 21 Maharashtra assembly election. The morale in the NCP was down, and several of Pawar’s friends were reluctant to fund the party in its hour of crisis. To make matters worse, the BJP, particularly incumbent chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, had created an electoral buzz with the ‘Mee Punha Yein (I shall return)’ slogan.
On October 8, Pawar embarked on a statewide tour. In the next 10 days, he addressed 57 rallies, covering an average 300 km a day. His stage presence changed—there was a new body language and the speeches turned sharper and more
GETTING THE CONGRESS ON BOARD WAS FAR FROM EASY, GIVEN SONIA’S DISTRUST OF PAWAR AND HER WARINESS ABOUT THE SENA
colourful. At one gathering, Pawar wondered whether those who had deserted the NCP were wearing bangles while in power for 15 years. In Satara, he was pictured addressing the crowd in pouring rain. At another rally, he imitated a transgender to underpin the point that the rival parties were no match. “Aata he mala shikavnaar (They are trying to teach me),” he said. Pawar’s statewide tour raised the pitch of the election campaign and brought him back to the centre stage of Maharashtra politics. What also galvanised Pawar and the NCP was the money-laundering case related to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered against him. Pawar called a press conference on September 25 to declare he would present himself before the ED two days later. Looking to invoke Maratha pride, he drew parallels between the Mughal sultanate and the Narendra Modi government and vowed “not to bow before Delhi”. Later, Pawar tweeted that he planned to go to the ED office alone. It was an indirect message to his supporters to join him there. Senior Mumbai police officials requested Pawar not to visit the ED office in Mumbai as it could create a law and order problem. As a Maharashtra BJP MP had then predicted about the ED summons: “Our party has activated a lifeline for Sharad Pawar. This decision will haunt us in the future.” The Maharashtra assembly election results made it clear that Pawar had overcome the odds and emerged politically stronger. The NCP won 54 seats, 13 more than it did in the 2014 assembly poll. That the party had contested just 117 seats this time, against 250 in 2014, and secured the second highest vote share among all parties says something for Pawar’s strike rate and the traction his election campaign got. Getting the Congress to join a Sena-led government, under the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, was a challenge even for Pawar. There were several barriers: Sonia’s distrust of Pawar, the Congress’s ideological reservations about aligning with a pro-Hindutva party, and the need for an acceptable power-sharing formula. Some Congress leaders were apprehensive that the alliance would hurt the party in north India—especially Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi—since the Sena is viewed as anti-migrant. As a Congress general secretary says, on condition of anonymity, “It’s a grave mistake. The NCP doesn’t have much to lose, but what will we tell our voters? How are we different from the BJP? It (the alliance) has taken away our last political plank.” Several Congressmen, including a senior Muslim leader, advised Sonia to yield to Pawar, who was ready to negotiate with the Sena for a fair Congress share in the power distribution. Among the reasons why Sonia came on board was the SOS from the Congress’s Maharashtra unit—given the prevailing funds crunch, another five years away from power could wipe out the party in the state. Yet, Sonia and her team went slow on the negotiations because, as a Congress leader put it, there was a lot to play for if the deal was bargained well. Besides, given the coalition experience in Karnataka, the party was wary of dealing with another ‘incompatible’ ally. The lingering discussions with Pawar gave the BJP a chance to poach NCP leader Ajit Pawar. An NCP insider says Sharad Pawar was shaken by nephew Ajit Pawar’s rebellion. Ajit took oath as Devendra Fadnavis’s deputy in the surprise installation of a BJP-led government early morning on November 23. Pawar learnt about the move when NCP MLA Rajendra Shingne called him at 6 am to say he was going to Raj Bhavan with Ajit. Pawar deputed senior party leaders Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse-Patil to convince the 15 rebels to return to the party fold. He also got Ajit sacked as NCP legislative party leader. With social media abuzz with theories that Ajit was Pawar’s plant in the BJP, Pawar quickly went into a huddle with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat. They managed to trace all the NCP rebels and corralled them in a five-star hotel in Bandra. In an unusual act, Pawar also got all MVA lawmakers to take an oath that they would remain loyal to their respective parties. Nawab Malik, the NCP’s Mumbai president, says Pawar made the impossible possible. “The moment Pawar declared he would ensure that none of the MLAs is disqualified, the situation came under control. Only a master strategist could have achieved this.” There is speculation about why Pawar agreed to entrust the chief ministership to the Sena for the entire five-year term when he could have bargained for an equal share for his own party. An NCP leader says Pawar is keener on bagging plum portfolios, such as home, finance and water resources. The leader points out that Pawar had given up claim to the chief minister’s post in 2004 as well, when the NCP won two seats more (71) than the Congress. At the NCP meeting on November 17 in Pune, Pawar’s close aides Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and Dhananjay Munde had backed Ajit’s idea to support the BJP. Perhaps, his long-term vision for his party and politics in India made Pawar discard the idea. The BJP’s record of managing allies has not been encouraging. With the Congress facing a leadership crisis and opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav struggling to retain their turfs, Pawar perhaps saw the Maharashtra crisis as an opportunity to emerge as an opposition leader who can beat the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo at their own game. By bringing together two most incompatible partners, he emerged as the new rallying point for anti-BJP forces. Enough reason for a desperate opposition to seek a saviour in him.