The NCP president refused to elevate his nephew as Maharashtra's deputy CM, overruling a majority of the party's 62 MLAs, in a bid to avoid creating a rival power centre to his daughter Supriya Sule.
Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), gave the thumbs down to the elevation of his nephew Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister, overruling a majority of voices in the 62-member NCP legislature party that met on Monday.
Instead, Pawar Sr opted for status quo, and nominated Chhagan Bhujbal for the post, causing an uproar in his party. Upset supporters of Ajit Pawar demanded that they be heard by the party high command and said their views could not be dismissed by undemocratically forcing a decision down their throats.
The decision to nominate Bhujbal was explained later as a way of giving weightage to OBCs, but Ajit Pawar loyalists interpreted it as an indirect way of keeping the road clear for Pawar Sr’s daughter, Supriya Sule, to emerge as the key leader in the party. To keep Ajit Pawar’s supporters in check, it was, however, suggested that Bhujbal was deputy chief minister only for the next two years, and there could be scope for changes when, and if, Bhujbal was sent to the Centre.
The NCP legislature party meeting, which began around 1pm at the party office in Mumbai, saw a clear wind in favour of Ajit Pawar. Soon after the meeting, the latter faced the media with a smile, discarding his angry young man image. “Yes, I am also in the reckoning,” he said. However, the first signal that he wouldn’t get the job came during the meeting itself, when the central observers declined to do a headcount.
About half a dozen ministers, who saw a threat to their power from Ajit Pawar, took a cautious line and said it would be best to leave the decision to Sharad Pawar. Senior minister Dilip Walse-Patil said: “My loyalty is to ‘S’ (Sharad Pawar) party. I will not name any individual.” MLAs loyal to Ajit Pawar retorted: “We also would like to indicate our loyalty to ‘A’(Ajit Pawar) party. Why don’t you take a vote?” they asked the central observers, who included civil aviation minister Praful Patel, party general
secretary Tariq Anwar, and DP Tripathi.
At one stage, slogans were raised, “Ek vada, Ajit dada” and “Vikas ka vada, Ajit dada,” much to the embarrassment of the central observers. Sensing things were getting out of hand, they insisted on a middle path and said Sharad Pawar should be empowered to take a decision. A one-line resolution was moved to ensure this.
Praful Patel, who played the role of trouble-shooter, later underplayed the dissent and said Ajit Pawar had also given his support to Bhujbal. However, the junior Pawar was not present on the dais when the party made the announcement after 5pm. The central observers defended the decision to nominate Bhujbal and said that in doing so they were balancing the caste equation. “The Congress has preferred Ashok Chavan, who represents the Maratha community, as chief minister. We have chosen Bhujbal, who represents the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).”
The argument sounded a bit thin to the Ajit Pawar camp, which pointed out that before 26/11, both the chief minister (Vilasrao Deshmukh) and deputy chief minister (RR Patil) were Marathas.
A senior NCP general secretary said Praful Patel and Ajit held a 20-minute meeting where the latter was told that Bhujbal would hold charge as deputy chief minister for just two years. Thereafter, the NCP would hand over the post to him. But supporters of Ajit Pawar described the move as a political ploy to clip his wings as he had total remote control of the organisation. The other contender in the race for deputy chief minister, RR Patil, accepted the decision with grace. He offered a bouquet to Bhujbal and gave him his best wishes.
A senior cabinet minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, regretted this decision to sideline Ajit Pawar. “It is an unfortunate development. He would have been a tough task-master who could have countered the Congress’ efforts to corner the NCP.” The Congress would like the NCP to merge with itself.
The decision on Bhujbal has set tongues wagging. “This is a clear indication that Pawar does not want to promote his nephew (Ajit) as heir apparent when generation next daughter Supriya Sule (an MP) is emerging as a new power centre.”
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