Mumbai: Ajit Pawar’s death has raised questions regarding the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The 66-year-old was a mass leader and had established himself as an able administrator.
Affectionately called ‘Dada’ by the people of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar was known not to mince his words—a trait seen in a crucial moment for the party at large in 2023.
Wednesday’s air crash took away one of India’s regional satraps abruptly from Indian politics. His absence will be felt acutely in Maharashtra, from where the NCP draws its core base and influence.
Here are top five moments that have defined the six-time Maharashtra deputy chief minister’s 35-plus years of political career.
1) Irrigation scam
His entire political legacy was marred by one major controversy: the 2012 irrigation scam for which he had to resign from the Maharashtra Cabinet. He was the Deputy CM in the then Congress-NCP government in September that year when his name figured in connection with alleged financial irregularities exceeding Rs 70,000 crore.
The NCP leader was given a clean chit by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau in December 2019, after the agency concluded that there was no evidence to directly implicate him in the alleged inflation of contracts during his tenure.
2) Morning oath ceremony
In 2019, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) formation was underway with the Shiv Sena, the NCP, and the Congress in talks, Ajit Pawar shocked everyone, including his uncle and NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, when he took oath as Deputy Chief Minister on a Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
This was after he joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government in Maharashtra. Three days later, however, the government collapsed as Pawar was unable to engineer a split in his party. Ajit Pawar returned to the MVA fold. He was again made the Deputy CM of the Aghadi government.
3) Sharad Pawar’s resignation
In May 2023, NCP chief Sharad Pawar decided to step down to make way for the next line of leaders. At the function where he announced his retirement, many workers and party leaders wailed and requested him to not step down, a request which he eventually agreed to.
However, only Ajit Pawar stood up and supported Pawar’s decision to step down. “You all can appeal if you want, but with me and Supriya (Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule), is he going to listen to us?” he said in response to pleas of workers urging him to appeal to his uncle to reconsider his decision.
It is better, he said in his usual tone, that the next party president is finalised while Sharad Pawar is still around and active.
“Considering his age, we are thinking about saheb (Sharad Pawar) and everybody else and trying to give the party’s reins to a new leadership. This leadership will work for the party under saheb’s mentorship. Any fool also will be able to tell that saheb is the party,” he had said.
His stand, which was contrary to what all other leaders on the stage were saying, once again displayed his ambitions to be the NCP president.
4) The rebellion
Finally in July 2023, Ajit Pawar rebelled from his uncle Sharad Pawar. This time, he was better prepared: he took nine other ministers and around 40 MLAs with him. He joined hands with Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena and became a part of the Mahayuti government.
The NCP got split vertically with the Ajit Pawar faction getting the party symbol—alarm clock. It was his moment, a point where he had emerged out of the shadows of his uncle.
In the last two and a half years though, he had mixed results. In the Lok Sabha polls, his party won only one seat and he couldn’t even get his wife win from Baramati. However, the results were kinder in assembly and municipal council elections. The clock turned against him again in the recently concluded corporation polls: his party got decimated even in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, the regions he had full control until 2017.
5) Charges against son
Though Ajit Pawar never lost an election, his elder son Parth Pawar lost from Maval constituency in the 2019 general elections. Six years later, he faced a setback when his son’s name was dragged into Mundhwa land scam.
After the allegations against Parth were made in November last year, Ajit Pawar distanced himself from his son initially. But a few days later, he spoke about it defending his son.
The NCP leader told the media that he was reminded of the allegations made against him in the irrigation scam and eventually the probe had shown he had nothing to do with the irregularities.
“It is easy to make allegations, but it is equally important that people know the reality behind these allegations. I knew nothing about this transaction. I always say, do what fits in the rules. I asked everyone in my office today if anybody put any pressure on anyone to act in a certain manner. There was no pressure from my office on anyone,” he said.
The younger son, Jay Pawar, has maintained a relatively low public profile. He is said to be involved in business interests of the family, and helps out with local campaigns and back room management.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Ajit Pawar: Brash, tireless, ambitious, the ‘Dada’ from Baramati