Ajit Pawar is caught between a rock and a hard place

A major political problem for Ajit Pawar is that his alliance with the BJP is an unnatural one. In the ruling Maha Yuti government, Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction is the weakest link.

Why is an ever-ambitious Ajit Pawar failing after effecting a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and is not expected to do better in poll-bound Maharashtra? The answer, many political observers will agree, is that he is no longer under the guidance of his political mentor and uncle Sharad Pawar.

Under Sharad Pawar, in the undivided NCP, Ajit Pawar was given the image of being the most competent and powerful minister. Pawar senior promoted his nephew as a go-getter and Ajit Pawar was a workaholic with a knack for getting things done.

However, Sharad Pawar never waxed eloquently on how good or big Ajit Pawar was as a leader. And there was a reason for that. Given Sharad Pawar’s working style, he always donned the hat of the thinker and the strategist. That role was not delegated to anybody. Sharad Pawar kept his cards close to his chest and remained unpredictable to others in the party, his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew included.

Sharad Pawar’s forte has always been the organisation as well as his networking in every field. In the current political context, he has not lost his touch and has many fights left in him despite Ajit Pawar once brashly remarking that old people should retire from politics. Now Ajit Pawar is making amends. He is making it known that he does not like remarks critical of his uncle. He has understood that any remarks either ridiculing or showing Pawar senior in poor light will create sympathy for the octogenarian leader.

Ajit Pawar’s problem is that he might be ambitious, but he is not a leader.

Unlike his uncle, Ajit Pawar has failed to create a constituency for himself outside politics, comprising well-wishers, the middle class, writers, and artistes. He has failed to do this despite being in power for several years. What is needed to be a leader is that one needs to create goodwill among various sections and go the extra mile to become the talking point among them. Maharashtra’s ethos is that the leader takes ample interest in the arts and artistes, writers and intellectuals, students and professors. Former Maharashtra chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan was the ideal example, and it was also followed by his ‘manasputra’.

Analysing Ajit Pawar’s political decisions since he split the NCP, it is clear that he has not understood what makes Sharad Pawar tick. If he had, the deputy chief minister would not have fielded his wife Sunetra from Baramati against Sule in the Lok Sabha polls; a move he rues now.

Ajit Pawar has a hard worker and a taskmaster, but a makeover will be a herculean task; some reports suggest he has engaged top consultants for the job. The problem, however, is that he neither has any story to tell, nor are people aware of him beyond being the nephew of Sharad Pawar. The problem of identity is a daunting one and none of the leaders surrounding Aji Pawar have an independent stature in politics. In that sense, all of them were enjoying power in the reflected glory of Sharad Pawar.

A major political problem for Ajit Pawar is that his alliance with the BJP is an unnatural one; especially because they have been at daggers drawn for the last few decades. In the ruling Maha Yuti government, Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction is the weakest link. Sections within the BJP and the RSS are not happy with this alliance.

What is in store for Ajit Pawar will be known even before the polls as the BJP is not keen to give him many seats outside western Maharashtra. By securing just one Lok Sabha seat, the message has gone that his faction of the NCP is the laggard in the ruling alliance. The bigger trouble for the nephew is that his uncle is drawing up a strategy to counter him in every constituency in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Politically Ajit Pawar is in a sticky wicket — he has burnt bridges with Sharad Pawar and is not politically appreciated in the ruling alliance. For now, it seems that Pawar senior will have the last laugh.

(Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari are senior journalists)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.