How Ajit Pawar emerged as a key figure in the NCP

MUMBAI: Son of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s brother Anandrao, Ajit Pawar was initiated into politics by his uncle. While the senior Pawar was busy leading the party, Ajit looked after the Baramati assembly and Lok Sabha constituency, considered to be the Pawar family’s pocketbor-ough.

He was first elected to the state assembly in 1991 when Sharad Pawar shifted to Delhi as the Union defence minister. Sharad Pawar’s dependence on his nephew increased as he needed a trusted person to handle organisational matters of the party. Ajit then entered the state Cabinet as a minister in 1999 and held the rank till 2010, when he was promoted as the deputy CM.

Ajit, now 60, was seen as the number two in NCP, but ties between the two leaders have soured in the last few years.

Ajit Pawar’s close aides said he was convinced that his uncle would never let him become CM. “In 2004 when the party won more seats than ally Congress and the two parties retained power, Ajit wanted chief ministership,” a close aide said.

THERE HAS BEEN A THAW IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BJP, NCP EVIDENT IN THEIR BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS EACH OTHER DURING ASSEMBLY SESSIONS.

MUMBAI: As news of Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Ajit Pawar of Nationalist Congress Party taking oath as the new chief minister and deputy chief minister, respectively, spread, an old tweet of Fadnavis started doing the rounds on Twitter and WhatsApp.

In September 2014 — a month before he took over as Maharashtra’s CM — Fadnavis tweeted that BJP would “never, never, never have any alliance with the NCP”. As BJP state president, Fadnavis had helped expose an irrigation scam worth ~70,000 crore allegedly carried out by the erstwhile Congress-NCP government; he initiated an Anti Corruption Bureau inquiry into this soon after taking over as CM.

Over the past two years, however, there has been a thaw in the relations between the two, evident in their behaviour towards each other during assembly sessions. This was reportedly brought about by NCP Leader of Opposition in the council, Dhananjay Munde, who is the nephew of former senior BJP leader, the late Gopinath Munde.

“It is well known that Fadnavis does not like Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule and vice versa. What is not known is that over the last year and half Ajit dada and the CM have established contact and some sort of an understanding,” said a senior BJP leader close to Fadnavis, who did not wish to be named.

Since the party was formed in 1999, Pawar was seen as number two in the party after chief Sharad Pawar, who is his uncle. Ajit, the son of Sharad Pawar’s brother Anandrao, was first elected to the state assembly in 1991. He looked after the Baramati assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies. He became deputy chief minister in 2010. However, he resigned briefly after the alleged irrigation scam became public.

The relations between the NC P supremo and his nephew have not been cordial in past few years.

“There has been a rift in the Pawar family and we have been aware of it. Since the day, we gave up the claim to form government, all options were considered. This was Fadnavis’ game plan, but it was possible because he had already established a communication channel with him,” said a senior BJP functionary, who wished to remain anonymous.

Ajit Pawar’s close aides said he was convinced that his uncle would never let him become CM. “In 2004 when the party won more seats than ally Congress and the two parties retained power, Ajit wanted chief ministership. However, Pawar chose not to take that position and instead got more ministerial berths from Congress,” a close aide said.

In September, Pawar resigned as MLA after the Enforcement Directorate named him in the FIR over alleged financial irregularities in a Maharashtra cooperative bank. Pawar continued to stay in the NCP though many expected him to walk out.