By Harihar Swarup
It did not take long for the rethink on the resignation. Allowing the hysteria to last just a few hours seemed more in keeping with Sharad Pawar’s style than his dramatic announcement on Tuesday evening that he was resigning from the President-ship of the party he had founded and which is identified with him. One didn’t think the NCP chief, whose pronouncements are known for their practicality, was the kind which would encourage the melodrama that invariably follows such announcement.
Old timers would recall the tearful scenes as the Janata Party leader and Karnataka CM Ramakrishna Hedge’s many resignations in the ‘80s. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray indulged in this gimmick twice, but then he always encouraged the cult that grew around him. Sonia Gandhi too offered her resignation ironically, Pawar was the main reason for this. She stayed on— Pawar was expelled and founded the NCP.
It seems unlikely that the NCP will ever let Sharad Pawar go. Surely, the 83-year-old, known to be the shrewdest politician among the opposition, knows this. Did nephew Ajit Pawar drive him to the end of his tether?
Pawar is not known as Chanakya for nothing. One doesn’t know whether he has himself scripted the crises that have recently overwhelmed his party, first in 2019 when Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as deputy CM of Maharashtra with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as CM. At the heart of both crises lies a lurking BJP. It failed in its long standing desire to break the senior-most strongman of Maharashtra during the 2019 Assembly election. Pawar simply twisted the BJP’s trusted weapon — an ED summons-in own favour. It was once again outwitted after the polls, when it was all set to cut its oldest ally to size.
Far from succeeding in downsizing Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, the BJP found itself out of power despite having won the most seats. Its success in wooing Ajit Pawar could last just four days; but those were enough for the latter to get the “BJP white wash” that all scam–accused defectors get. On the fifth day, the truant leader, now cleared by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, was welcome back into the NCP fold, and a month later, rewarded with the Deputy CM’s post.
Pawar’s masterstroke of bringing to fruition the MVA alliance is yet to be avenged by the BJP. The split engineered in the Shiv Sena last year did bring down the MVA coalition government, but it left Thackeray bleeding, not Pawar. Had the BJP’s recent overtures to the more—than—winning Ajit succeeded, that would have delivered a grievous wound to Sharad Pawar. But party chief had already started dealing with the possibility in his own style. When rumour were rife about a number of NCP MLAs going over to the BJP’s side under Ajit Pawar’s leadership, Pawar made a seemingly nonchalant remark that those who didn’t have the stomach to face an ED/CBI summons, were free to leave. One would have had to be an extraordinary thick-skinned politician to leave after this comment.
But even these preliminary moves between the BJP and Ajit Pawar served a purpose—they shook the already unequal Eknath—Shinde—Devendra Fadnavis relationship on which the state government depends, and also deepened Fadnavis’ unhappiness to having been deprived of the CM’s post in a government he helped form. For, Ajit Pawar, after having been deputy CM four times already, wouldn’t have settled for any post other than that of CM, as he himself made clear.
All this worked in favour of not just Sharad Pawar, but also the MVA, and Uddhav Thackeray in particular, who after finally bestirring himself to leave his home and tour the state, finds the effort to have been worth it. Response to his rallies signal a promising out come for next year’s poll for the MVA.
With the right messages having been sent all round, including the restive NCP MLAs, it was time to put the nephew in his place. Ajit Pawar accepted the NCP chief’s resignation without demur. How was he to know that he, who was dreaming of finally becoming CM or at least party President, would end up as just one of 15 committee members tasked with finding his uncle’s successor?
Chanakya triumphs once again. (IPA Service)
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