Troubles mount for Ajit as schisms within family, govt. broaden

Even as rebel Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar throws himself in hectic campaigning for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, schism within his family as well as Mahayuti are threatening to undercut the chances of his candidate.

It is widely expected that Mr. Ajit Pawar will field his wife Sunetra from Baramati against the incumbent MP, Supriya Sule, who is Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Mr. Ajit Pawar’s cousin.

However, in a significant development, Mr. Ajit Pawar’s elder brother, businessman Shrinivas Pawar censured him for leaving Mr. Pawar Sr. and aligning with the BJP, thus indirectly announcing his support for Ms. Sule. The hotly contested Baramati seat in Pune district goes to polls in the third phase on May 7.

‘Caused me pain’

“I have always stuck with Ajitdada through his highs and lows. But I do not approve of his decision of leaving Sharad Pawar. It has caused me great pain,” said Mr. Shrinivas in Katewadi on Sunday, the ancestral village of the Pawar clan.

Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

He also called his brother “ungrateful” and “worthless”.

“He could become Deputy CM four times and remain a Minister for 25 years only because of Pawar saaheb. And yet, Ajit disrespectfully says our uncle has no political future now,” he said.

He added it had long been the RSS and the BJP’s ploy to finish off the Pawar clan.

Meanwhile, to compound Mr. Ajit Pawar’s troubles, former Minister Vijay Shivtare – a senior leader of the ruling Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena – refused to be pacified into cooperating with Mr. Pawar in the Baramati campaign. Mr. Shivtare was summoned by CM Shinde for the second time in less than a week in a bid to cajole him to cooperate with Mr. Ajit Pawar and forget past animosities.