Mumbai: Nearly a month after Sunetra Pawar became Maharashtra deputy chief minister following her husband’s death, reporters asked whether she preferred being called ‘tai (older sister)’ or ‘vahini (sister-in-law)’, the designation she had while Ajit Pawar was called ‘dada’.
Three months later, the 62-year-old appears to still be figuring it out. In other words, it remains unclear whether she wants to continue being seen as a politician’s wife or as a politician in her own right remains unclear.
For the most part, especially during the Baramati assembly by-poll, Sunetra Pawar has been ‘vahini’, reminding people of her husband’s legacy. Her claim to the seat stems from it being Ajit Pawar’s bastion since 1991.
On Monday, she won the bypoll with a handsome margin of 21.18 lakh votes, largely unopposed. No major party fielded a candidate against her. Before her, Ajit Pawar had seized the Baramati assembly constituency through a bypoll in 1991.
Those who have seen her work from close quarters say that Sunetra Pawar is a woman of few words. She occupies her husband’s seat, performing the duties expected of her as an administrator and politician. She does not insert her own persona into the equation. She is cautious, aiming to help her children carve out a political future for themselves.
There have, however, been a few times when she has displayed decisiveness, offering a glimpse of the politician that she is.
The latest such instance was last week, when the NCP chose Zeeshan Siddiqui as its candidate for the MLC polls on 9 May, despite having over 75 aspirants for the seat. Senior leader Sunil Tatkare’s son Aniket, outgoing MLC Amol Mitkari, former legislator Rajendra Jain—known to be close to the party’s working president Praful Patel—party leaders Anand Paranjape and Suraj Chavan, among others, had thrown their hats into the ring.
“She called a meeting of all senior leaders and came to a collective decision that could be politically justified and seen as neutral, without picking the choice of any one leader over the other. Zeeshan Siddiqui is a Muslim face from Mumbai, a demography where the party needs to strengthen itself,” a party leader who did not wish to be named said.
The NCP has traditionally had a limited presence in Mumbai and held sway mainly in certain Muslim-dominated belts. Until now, ex-MLA Nawab Malik was the face of the party in the city. After the NCP split, Malik stayed with the Ajit Pawar-led faction, even spearheading its preparations for Mumbai’s civic body polls earlier this year. The party won three seats.
However, Malik has also been a constant source of friction between the allies, the NCP and the BJP. The latter has alleged that Malik had links to properties connected to gangster Dawood Ibrahim. This led to a money laundering case against the former MLA.
Speaking to ThePrint, political analyst Hemant Desai said, “Ajit Pawar grew in politics and took control of the party bit by bit, not all at once. Likewise, this is the start of Sunetra Pawar’s innings, so she is taking it slow, playing cautiously. She has taken the party under her control and has seen to it that she doesn’t let any controversy fester.”
“But, at the same time, she hasn’t made any policy statements about any major issue in the state. We don’t know her stance on different ideological and political issues. As of now, it looks like she is toeing the BJP’s line as part of the Mahayuti,” he added.
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The first battle
Sunetra Pawar didn’t need to campaign much in Baramati to win the bypoll, considering no major party had fielded a candidate against her. The Congress had initially wanted to, but all major leaders, such as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Maha Vikas Aghadi’s Sharad Pawar, asked the Congress to withdraw, and it did.
The Mahayuti still left no stone unturned in contesting the bypoll. At the end of the campaign, it held a mega rally in Baramati where every major leader spoke about Ajit Pawar’s work and how Sunetra ‘vahini’ could take his dreams forward.
A long video of Ajit Pawar’s old photos and videos from his family and political life, with melancholic music in the background, kicked off the event. Large screens projected this video for the crowd that had gathered, while a laptop was placed in front of Sunetra Pawar and her sons, Parth and Jay, for them to see the montage. As the film played, the deputy CM visibly grieved her husband’s loss, as her eyes often moistened.
Right afterwards, she switched to campaign mode, standing up to deliver her speech.
“After seeing the short film [on Ajit Pawar], my heart is very heavy. My mind is not willing to accept that I am having to address this rally in his absence. Many people say ‘dada will come back’, but we will have to accept the bitter truth and try to move forward and complete his dreams,” Sunetra Pawar said.
At only one point in the entire speech did her voice give away her emotions, as she said, “My grief is too big.”
Being able to rise to the occasion when required, as well as tap into her loss and speak about it when politically prudent, has been the standout feature of the first three months of Sunetra Pawar’s tenure as a full-time politician and administrator. This is what has helped deliver her first win, which will keep the Ajit Pawar NCP faction within his family, party leaders say.
“She promptly acted, taking up the responsibility of the party and taking oath as Deputy CM at a time when there were speculations of merger talks with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. If those speculations had been allowed to fester, there could have been talks of the leadership of the party slipping from the Ajit Pawar side of the family to the Sharad Pawar side of the family,” a senior NCP functionary who did not wish to be named said.
Soon after Ajit Pawar’s death, senior leaders from the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP claimed that talks of a merger were almost finalised when Ajit Pawar was alive, and that his last wish of a political reunion of the two factions of the NCP should be fulfilled.
Afterwards, the two sides even fought the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation elections together, along with some Zilla Parishad polls, as a united front.
Leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, including Tatkare, Patel, Bhujbal, and Munde, dismissed any suggestions of merger talks. The undercurrent was that had a merger happened while Ajit Pawar was alive, he would have been the undisputed leader of the combined party. However, in his absence, leaders such as Baramati Rajya Sabha MP Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar’s daughter, and MLA Rohit Pawar, Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, might end up having a greater say in the party.
Sharad Pawar had confirmed talks for a merger with Ajit Pawar, but also said that the same might not happen now.
Amid these talks, Sunetra Pawar’s resolute and swift decision to put her sorrow aside and take over Ajit Pawar’s administrative and political duties put a lid on talks of a reunion and questions over the party’s leadership.
Her assertion as the undisputed head of her husband’s party was seen again when she shot off a letter to the Election Commission of India to disregard any decision of the party that was taken from the time Ajit Pawar died till the day she was formally elected as the national president of the NCP.
“That letter was meant to silence anyone who thought that she was just the titular head of the party, and that it was the senior leaders, such as Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, or Chhagan Bhujbal, who were pushing their way through. Her message was clear: she is here to head the party with an iron fist,” the functionary said.
The prodigal sons
In March this year, Nashik Police arrested self-styled ‘godman’ Ashok Kharat on allegations of rape. The arrest sparked a political controversy as links between several Maharashtra politicians and Kharat started coming to the fore. Among them was Rupali Chakankar, an NCP leader and the Maharashtra State Commission for Women’s then-chairperson.
Party leaders say that Sunetra Pawar asked for Chakankar’s resignation, though the party had differences of opinion regarding that. There were, after all, no direct charges or accusations against Chakankar. The deputy CM tweeted that Chakankar had stepped down to ensure an impartial probe into the Kharat case.
There were, however, whispers within the political corridors about the leader using two different yardsticks for two similar situations—something that Ajit Pawar was also guilty of. No action was taken against Ajit and Sunetra’s son, Parth, when his company faced charges of buying land while ignoring rules and evading the payable stamp duty. Parth’s name was kept out of the FIR and the inquiry.
Ajit Pawar chose not to take any action against Parth when the case broke out in November last year, though he had previously asked Dhananjay Munde to resign as minister after his right-hand man was arrested in a murder case. Later, in December that year, Ajit Pawar also asked Manikrao Kokate to resign as cabinet minister after a court upheld his conviction in a three-decade-old housing scam case.
In the new regime under Sunetra Pawar, leaders say, Parth Pawar has become a powerful voice—almost an unsaid second-in-command after his mother. One of the first major decisions Sunetra Pawar took as NCP national president was nominating her older son, Parth, for a Rajya Sabha seat during the March round of elections this year.
Around the same time, Sunetra Pawar also elevated her younger son Jay to the NCP’s apex committee.
A party leader said that while Parth’s importance within the NCP under Sunetra Pawar was visible, there had been times when ‘vahini’ took decisions that optically went against him. For instance, he said, Sunetra Pawar decided to axe the contract with Naresh Arora’s DesignBoxed—a political strategy firm that Parth had brought in to work with the NCP before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Several senior leaders had issues with Arora’s work and were not in favour of continuing the contract, multiple party sources said.
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In ‘Dada’s’ place, but still not quite
The Devgiri Bungalow in Malabar Hill, the official residence originally allotted to the late Maharashtra deputy CM, Ajit Pawar, and now occupied by his wife, the Deputy CM, was always akin to a public court. Party workers, supporters, and members of the electorate could walk in after basic checks to have their demands, grievances, and requests heard.
The bungalow, like the party it represents, isn’t the same anymore, and party workers and MLAs are not thrilled about it.
“Now, one needs an appointment to enter Devgiri. Things have changed, and the MLAs and party workers aren’t necessarily happy, though they are giving Vahini time to settle in,” a party functionary said.
Sunetra Pawar, a social worker in her own right, had always willingly been her husband’s proxy. If there was any party worker that he personally wasn’t able to attend to, or any commitment or invitation he wasn’t able to honour, she would step in.
However, MLAs and party workers ThePrint spoke to said that Sunetra Pawar was still not quite like Ajit Pawar: he knew almost every party worker by name and enquired about their lives.
“She doesn’t say much when someone comes to meet her for some work. She just smiles, listens to them, accepts the memorandum, and that’s all,” a party worker closely working with one of NCP’s senior leaders told ThePrint.
Ajit Pawar’s working style was such that he would give an immediate response to any requests—either say yes, this work can be done, and issue directions to facilitate it, or bluntly refuse. Whether it was a yes or no, Ajit Pawar would honour his word.
Party workers and MLAs who have worked with this “dada” for years are not used to restricted access and a slower pace of decision-making.
“It can be something as simple as wanting an entry pass for Mantralaya. Ajit Pawar, or even any other seasoned politician, would have called someone right away, given instructions, and gotten it done. But Sunetra ‘vahini’ will hear the request and consider it before acting on it later,” the above-mentioned party worker said.
If it is anything politically important, leaders say Sunetra Pawar mainly turns to her sons, especially Parth. For administrative decisions, Dr Rajesh Deshmukh, secretary to the Deputy CM, is the go-to person.
An MLA who did not wish to be named said that Parth Pawar had a very different style of working that legislators weren’t used to. “The biggest problem is that the party doesn’t really have a programme right now. What are we trying to do? Are we trying to grow? Ideologically, what direction are we following?” he said.
The lack of a finance department within the party was also hampering the party’s position, the MLA added.
Ajit Pawar held the state finance department along with several others and the guardian ministerships for the Pune and Beed districts. After Sunetra Pawar took charge, CM Fadnavis handed over departments such as minority affairs, excise, and sports and youth welfare, as well as the two guardian ministerships that Ajit Pawar held, to her. For now, Fadnavis has kept the finance department to himself.
Political analyst Nitin Birmal said Sunetra Pawar hadn’t yet taken steps to attempt to form the same bond that Ajit Pawar had with rural Maharashtra, especially the western and southern districts, where he had known all the party workers.
“In the NCP, only Ajit Pawar had a mass base. Leaders such as Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare don’t.… Political ‘karyakartas’ need a leader who can speak for them in the administration and get work done. That presence, after Ajit Pawar, is lacking in the party,” Birmal said.
“Right now, it just looks like an arrangement to keep the party within the family. In the future, Sunetra Pawar will have to groom herself to do that, or Parth or Jay will have to develop that knack and try to fill Ajit Pawar’s shoes. Only then does the party have any chance of staying alive,” he added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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