With Ajit Pawar Jumping Ship, BJP’s Bulldozer Strategy in Maharashtra Evident

With Ajit becoming another Deputy, the structure is going to be top-heavy and CM Eknath Shinde has reasons to worry.

With the Lok Sabha polls approaching fast, a desperate Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has adopted the bulldozer strategy in Maharashtra, after splitting the Shiv Sena, now the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

It could also attempt to lure away some MLAs from the Congress to project that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which was a resurgent force till sometime back was in tatters. 

The parting of Ajit Pawar was to happen, but no one was sure that it will happen so suddenly. 63-year-old Ajit Pawar’s quick plunge towards the ruling BJP side shows the desperation from both sides.

Ajit had become bitter by the way he was sidelined in the NCP of which he had remained the second most powerful leader since its inception nearly 25 years back. While Sharad Pawar was the national face and the tallest leader of the party, Ajit looked at the nuts and bolts in the state that had kept the organisation running smoothly.

Ajit Pawar’s NCP Exit Was Long Time Coming

Right now, the headline is that Sharad Pawar has been humbled. Talk in political circles for long is that Maharashtra is run by remote control by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has been the brain behind the split in the Sena.

It is not that Sr Pawar was overshadowed in the state but he always saw to it that the nephew was in the decision-making process. Ajit never showed any ambitions outside Maharashtra though he was an MP for a brief period in the early nineties. 

82-year-old Pawar must have sensed long back that Ajit is on his way out of the party and, therefore, he offered his resignation as the NCP President over a month back. It was to send a message that he was in total command and that 'all is well’ in the party.

For him, this is the second major setback he suffered in Maharashtra. The last was the PDF government led by him way back in 1978 was dismissed by Indira Gandhi when she came back to power at the Centre in 1980.

The move to make Supriya Sule the Working President of the party at the national level with charge of several states including Maharashtra was a given one. This was because time was running out and the succession had to be decided once and for all.

A section of the party led by state NCP Chief Jayant Patil was not on the best of terms with Ajit. Jayant, also a leading cooperative sugar baron, recently faced an ED probe.

How Will BJP’s (Over) Ambitions in Maharashtra Fare?

Maharashtra had been a matter of concern for the BJP as the state has the second largest Lok Sabha seats at a count of 48 after 80-member Uttar Pradesh. The growing bonhomie in the Maha Vikas Aghadi was indicative that the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, NCP, and the Congress are fashioning a foolproof strategy to give BJP a tough fight.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election rally in Madhya Pradesh earlier had targeted the NCP along with other opposition parties on the issue of corruption. With the rift persisting, we'd have to wait and watch whether the coup in the party would help the BJP stabilise Maharashtra as already it has made Eknath Shinde, who led the split in the Shiv Sena a year back, the Chief Minister and has virtually forced Devendra Fadnavis to become his Deputy.

With Ajit becoming another Deputy, the structure is going to be top-heavy. There have already been problems between the Shinde Sena and the BJP and with the new inductions, the trouble is bound to grow.

Ajit: A Bigger Leader Than Shinde 

It is a sad commentary that the BJP in Maharashtra has gone in for an additional engine when it already has a double engine. We are entering interesting times but all news is likely to be that of political entertainment.

Now, the inclusion of Ajit and his men is going to be a new headache for CM Shinde who is already facing problems within Shiv Sena group. His supporters are not sure whether they will get renomination. BJP leaders say all goodie-goodie things but are undertaking their own preparations.

A political observer remarked with the joining of the NCP led by Ajit, the government in Maharashtra will become more stable, but the Chief Minister will become unstable.

Shinde has reasons to worry as Ajit is a far bigger leader than him and he could have more impact on the government from whatever position he might be holding. Besides, it is a fact that the NCP leaders in the Cabinet are more experienced and competent as compared to most others from the two other parties.

It is now to be seen how this growing 'incoming' will be seen by the loyalists within the BJP who have been ignored for long.

(Sunil Gatade is a former Associate Editor of the Press Trust of India. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)