The man who changed the “Balance of Pawar” in Maharashtra in 2023 will face the largest leadership test in 2024

Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had a historic day on July 3 of this year when he and his supporters partnered with the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis administration and he was sworn in once again as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister.

For the first time, Ajit Pawar broke with his uncle, Maratha tyrant Sharad Pawar, and publicly defied him. Ajit Pawar rejoined the NCP shortly after taking over as deputy chief minister in Fadnavis’s government in 2019. In a few months, he again took an oath, this time as the deputy chief minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) administration.

There had been conjecture that a group of the NCP headed by Ajit Pawar may potentially collaborate with the Shinde-Fadnavis administration after the fall of the MVA government in 2021 when Eknath Shinde separated the Shiv Sena and allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

When Ajit Pawar was questioned by the media about this matter, he would not comment. Ajit came under fire for declaring that Sharad Pawar’s decision to resign as the NCP’s national president should be honored although the majority of other party leaders were pleading with him to change his mind.

However, most of Ajit’s supporters mistook his summons to his house on July 3, 2023, for a typical party gathering. Later on, it became known that he was going to become part of the Shinde-Fadnavis administration. He was described in several media outlets as a “villain” who had betrayed the Pawar family and his uncle. However, a few days later, Ajit Pawar said he was only reading from a script when speaking to his followers.

Ajit Pawar was regarded as the NCP’s most formidable leader before to its breakup, second only to his uncle. He was in charge of party affairs at all levels, including the gram panchayat and state. His uncle Sharad Pawar, cousin Supriya Sule, and former union minister Praful Patel were all active in national politics, he remarked repeatedly, and he had no desire to do so. In an interview with this reporter, Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal stated, “Pawar saheb has done the natural division in the party,” following Sharad Pawar’s request that NCP leaders establish a committee to select the next working president of the party, to be mentored by the octagenarian and gradually given all charges. Supriya would handle national affairs and politics, while Ajit Pawar will handle state politics, despite his statement to the contrary.

It was clear that Ajit Pawar controlled the administration and bureaucracy under the MVA rule, which aided the then-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in conducting business in the state parliament and during cabinet sessions.

The Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) leaders were not delighted when Ajit Pawar opted to work with the Shinde-Fadnavis cabinet. They had realized that the Shiv Sena would have fewer seats in the Maharashtra cabinet if Ajit Pawar and other NCP leaders were included. Additionally, they have criticized Ajit Pawar on a number of grounds when seceding from the Uddhav Thackeray-led administration. However, Maharashtra’s “triple engine” government seems solid for the time being.

Ajit Pawar struggled for years to establish himself as a mass leader, always following in his uncle’s footsteps. According to observers, Ajit often came up with plans for municipal and state elections, but he was never given credit. Because some senior officials were leery of him, he was always given a portfolio with duties rather than being handed a prestigious position in the party, such as state president. However, the last gram panchayat elections, which followed the NCP split, showed that Ajit Pawar’s candidates outperformed Sharad Pawar’s in terms of win percentage. According to reports in the local media, Ajit Pawar has received affidavits of support from several party officials who had publicly declared their support for Sharad Pawar and his group throughout the legal proceedings in the “NCP vs. NCP” case.

During a recent two-day gathering in Karjat town, hosted by Ajit Pawar and his NCP camp, he said that his side would run for Lok Sabha seats in 2024, including Shirur, Satara, Raigad, and Baramati. This indicates that he intends to run a candidate against his cousin, Baramati MP Supriya Sule. This is a clear sign that he has informed Sharad Pawar that his group is prepared to confront the seasoned leader. Ajit asserts that he is the designated national president of the NCP, having won the endorsement of most MLAs. According to sources, he had told his uncle many times that he needed to step down from politics so that the next generation could take over. However, they also said that Ajit ultimately made the decision in 2023 to split ways and become the new face of the NCP as a result of Sharad Pawar’s refusal to resign.

Observers claim that in 2004 when the NCP had won 71 seats and the Congress had won 69, Ajit Pawar first felt cheated by his uncle. Together, they had run for office against the Shiv Sena-BJP combination. In the alliance, it was clearly stated that the chief ministership would go to the party with the most MPs. Ajit Pawar believed that in such a case he was the NCP’s clear choice for the position of chief minister. However, NCP leader Sharad Pawar requested four more ministries and chose to hand the position to the Congress party.

Ajit Pawar knows that the path he is now on is not easy. He is aware of the danger he has accepted and the struggle he will face in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against his uncle and mentor. According to observers, Ajit Pawar is also aware of the duty that Amit Shah and Narendra Modi set him before to appointing him to the Maharashtra cabinet. Helping the BJP-led coalition win as many Lok Sabha seats as possible in the state, especially from the western Maharashtra belt—a bastion for Sharad Pawar and his faction—would be the largest test of his leadership abilities. It will take time to determine Ajit Pawar’s level of success.