Ajit Pawar is going through a period of introspection, and this has been going on for almost a week. That’s why he keeps expressing regret after regret – but the biggest regret would be that of contesting the Lok Sabha elections for his wife Sunetra Pawar from Baramati.
Recently Ajit Pawar had talked about lagging behind in politics. The tone was certainly humorous, but he was expressing regret. Ajit Pawar reminded that Devendra Fadnavis became MLA for the first time in 1999 while Eknath Shinde in 2004, while he himself has been an MLA since 1990.
Eknath Shinde is currently the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis has also been the CM, but Ajit Pawar could never go beyond Deputy CM. It is also true that most of the time he remained the Deputy CM in the governments – it seems from the words of Ajit Pawar, and the political situation and equations also show that the chair of Chief Minister has now gone far away from him.
And in this sequence, it is heard in conversations that if there was an offer for the post of Chief Minister from BJP and Shiv Sena, then they would have brought the entire NCP along with them. In 2023, Ajit Pawar along with a large section of the NCP joined Maharashtra’s ruling coalition Mahayuti, and since then he has remained the Deputy CM.
Before the assembly elections to be held in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar has set out on ‘Jan Samman Yatra’ across the state, and during this, when asked, said that his decision to field his wife Sunetra Pawar against sister Supriya Sule from Baramati. It was wrong – This statement of Ajit Pawar before Rakshabandhan seems like emotional torture.
How political is Ajit Pawar’s regret over Baramati?
NCP leader Ajit Pawar has expressed regret over the family fight that took place on Baramati Lok Sabha seat, but at the same time he also tries to explain that it was not his personal decision. According to Ajit Pawar, the decision to make Sunetra Pawar the candidate from Baramati was taken by the NCP Parliamentary Board. Baramati is considered to be the stronghold of Sharad Pawar, a veteran leader of Maharashtra and uncle of Ajit Pawar, and after Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule represents Baramati in the Lok Sabha.
The question is whether Ajit Pawar could not have stopped the party from going ahead with this decision? At present he is the leader of NCP, then what would be the problem? Is it possible that there was pressure on Ajit Pawar to do this from BJP or Mahayuti, which also includes Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena?
There is also a question that why has Ajit Pawar said this now? Was this thing related to brother-sister relationship, that is why they were waiting for the occasion of Rakhi festival?
Speaking to the media, Ajit Pawar said, ‘I love all my sisters… I made a mistake by fielding Sunetra against my sister… This should not have happened.’
Even though this is a political statement of Ajit Pawar, he also becomes emotional while saying, ‘Once the arrow is released, it cannot be taken back… but my heart is telling me today that this should not have happened. ‘
Talking about his sister, Ajit Pawar says, ‘The place of politics is in politics, but these are all my dear sisters… Politics is going on in many houses… Politics should not be allowed to enter the house… Lok Sabha I made a mistake during the elections.
No matter how much Ajit Pawar expresses regret now, Supriya Sule has won in every aspect from Baramati ground. Even on the day of voting, Supriya Sule went straight to Ajit Pawar’s house after casting her vote and met Ajit Pawar’s mother there.
When journalists asked about the meeting, Supriya Sule said that she had come to meet her aunt Ashakaki and seek her blessings – and Ashakaki gave such a blessing that the daughter-in-law lost her daughter.
Supriya had gone to Ajit Pawar’s house immediately after voting, now the question of the journalists was whether Ajit Pawar would go to Supriya Sule on Rakshabandhan?
Ajit Pawar went with some hesitation, but the answer had to be given. So he said, I am currently on a tour across the state… but if I am in Baramati on Rakhi Purnima… and my sisters are there, I will definitely go.
Is Ajit now feeling suffocated in Mahayuti?
For the past few days, a campaign is being run by the Sangh and a section within the BJP, in which Ajit Pawar is the target. The people who are running this campaign are, in different ways, calling taking Ajit Pawar on board as a mismatched alliance with BJP.
This is almost the same way BJP leaders were once targeting Uddhav Thackeray. Such leaders have been alleging that Uddhav Thackeray has compromised with Hindutva politics by forming an alliance with NCP and Congress – the impact on Maharashtra BJP may not be as much as that of Uddhav Thackeray, but the decision to take Ajit Pawar along with him is exactly the same. The method is being studded.
Another Deputy CM of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, seems to have played the most important role in bringing Ajit Pawar together. The matter was finalized after several meetings with Union Minister Amit Shah, but Devendra Fadnavis remained the architect. Recently Ajit Pawar had also told about the meetings with Amit Shah.
Devendra Fadnavis has also met Sangh leaders during the month, and it has been heard that he is strongly advocating for Ajit Pawar. You must remember, how one night in 2019, Devendra Fadnavis suddenly joined hands with Ajit Pawar in the morning and took oath as the Chief Minister and him as the Deputy CM – then it was also reported that the Sangh leadership had asked Devendra Fadnavis to take any action from him. Was advised to avoid any kind of vandalism.
The Sangh is still not happy with the alliance with Ajit Pawar. A few days ago, Vivek, a Marathi magazine associated with the Sangh, had published a report in this regard, in which it was said that many people in the BJP itself, and many BJP supporters, are extremely unhappy with the alliance with Ajit Pawar. Even in a BJP meeting, a leader had even demanded that BJP immediately break its relationship with Ajit Pawar.
It is possible that Ajit Pawar is also facing difficulty in maintaining relations with BJP. It is possible that there is a feeling of suffocation, and it is also possible that Ajit Pawar is trying to put pressure in different ways for a good bargain in the distribution of seats. For example, a few days ago Ajit Pawar had said that NCP will fight the Maharashtra civic elections alone – it is possible that Ajit Pawar is trying to get the assembly seats of his choice during the division by threatening to return to the family.