Ajit 'victim' of effort in NCP to 'put him down'

Sharad Pawar's announcement that he is resigning as NCP chief is the latest development in the decades-long tussle between him and his nephew, Ajit Pawar.

While Ajit Pawar has often been portrayed as power-hungry and a poor team-player, those close to him claim that he's a victim of a systematic effort to put him down in the party that his uncle, Sharad Pawar, founded. There have been at least two instances, according to these people, when Ajit Pawar could have been Maharashtra CM, but NCP under Sharad Pawar's leadership did not pursue it.

The first such chance came after the 2004 assembly polls when NCP got more seats than ally Congress, and by the pre-poll arrangement NCP should have got the CM's post as it had more seats. But Pawar inexplicably conceded the post to Congress. Those in the party believe Pawar senior didn't seek the CM's post as Ajit Pawar would have staked claim to it. Besides, making any other NCP leader the CM would not have gone down well with Ajit Pawar.


In 2019, when Congress, NCP and Sena came together to form MVA government, Ajit Pawar could have become CM, as the then Sena chief was not keen on taking the post. Sources said a section of NCP and even those within Congress were okay with the idea of Ajit Pawar as CM candidate. But here again Sharad Pawar insisted on and convinced Uddhav Thackeray to become CM.

"While Pawar Saheb claimed he got Uddhav to head the government as he wanted it to be stable, there are no takers for it. One of the reasons the government fell was because Uddhav could not give attention to government and to the party and, hence, there was a split in Shiv Sena. MVA government would not have collapsed if Ajit would have been the MVA CM," said an NCP leader, adding in 2009, Chhagan Bhujbal was made deputy CM, even when a majority of NCP MLAs had backed Ajit Pawar for the post. "The MLAs were seeking a head count,but it was not allowed."

Also, Ever since Rohit Pawar became a legislator in 2019, the Ajit Pawar camp has been of the view that Rohit Pawar was brought into politics to cut Ajit Pawar's clout in the state.