Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 22: Within days of his asserting that he would not quit the Nationalist Congress Party and join hands with the BJP, the former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said his outfit was ready to stake claim for the chief minister’s post “right now” instead of waiting for the 2024 state Assembly elections.
Though Pawar did not elaborate, nor he underlined that he planned to join hands with the BJP to form a new government in the present set up, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut tended to read much into it.
Raut said the NCP leader’s remarks clearly highlighted the fact that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been asked to pack his bags by the BJP. “What Ajit Pawar said has a loud and clear message to Eknath Shinde and his camp. Shinde has been told to pack his bags by the BJP. And that is the reason why Shinde is suddenly keeping a low profile and speaking in an inaudible voice about the speculations over the chief minister’s post being offered to Ajit Pawar by BJP,” Raut, chief spokesperson of the Shiv Sena (UBT) said.
In an interview with a media house, Pawar, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, had also said he would “100 per cent” like to be Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He had also said he had heard that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, before his rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership in June 2022, was unhappy and something was going in his mind.
Asked whether the NCP will stake a claim for the Chief Minister’s post next year when assembly polls are due in Maharashtra, he remarked, “Why 2024, we are ready to stake a claim for the Chief Minister position now also.” He, however, did not elaborate on the statement.
Pawar on Friday had skipped a meeting of his party’s Mumbai unit, raising eyebrows in political circles as speculation about his next political move refuses to die down. He, however, played down the buzz saying he was unable to attend the NCP convention as he had to attend some other programmes happening at the same time. He insisted nothing much should be read into this.
Raut said if Ajit Pawar was ready to stake claim to the CM’s post, the Shiv Sena (UBT), an alliance partner in the Mahan Vikas Aghadi (MVA), would extend its best wishes to him. “Our best wishes are with him if he wants to stake claim to the chief minister’s post. We cannot stop anyone from taking their ambitions to a logical conclusion. Let him try his luck, our best wishes are with him,” he said.
Raut said, “Some people became chief minister though they were not suitable for the post. If fortune favours him, Ajit Pawar will surely become the chief minister. Ajit Pawar has the ability to become the chief minister. He holds the record of remaining the deputy chief minister for a long period of time.”
Raut claimed Ajit Pawar lately “is looking restless and worried.” Asked whether the remarks by Ajit Pawar meant that he was heading towards the BJP, Raut said, “There is something in it…Ajit Pawar has been looking restless and worried. The BJP seems to have put him under pressure by threatening to pursue cases against him.”
Earlier also Raut had said Ajit Pawar had been complaining to the NCP chief Sharad Pawar about the pressure being put by BJP on him. Ajit Pawar later responded to Raut’s remarks, saying he was not the NCP spokesperson to make such claims.
Mr Pawar revealed his colleague late RR Patil would have become Chief Minister in 2004 when the NCP had won more Assembly seats than its ally Congress, but a message came from Delhi that his party will get the Deputy Chief Minister’s post.
During the interview, Pawar was asked whether he would like to become Chief Minister. To this, he promptly replied, “Yes, I would 100 per cent like to be.” Asked why the NCP has an affinity for the Deputy Chief Minister’s position as the party has got that post on multiple occasions in the last 20 years, the veteran politician said in 2004, the NCP and the Congress fought Assembly elections in an alliance and the former had won more seats.
“We got 71 seats, while the Congress won 69. Everyone, including the Congress, thought Chief Minister would be from the NCP. However, some decisions were taken at the highest level and a message came from Delhi that the NCP will get the Deputy Chief Minister position and the Chief Minister post went to Congress,” he said.
Mr Pawar said his colleague Mr Patil was chosen as the Leader of the House (Assembly), and he would have become Chief Minister in 2004 if the top post was given to the NCP. In the subsequent Assembly polls, the Congress Scored more seats than the NCP and naturally kept the Chief Minister’s post with itself, he said.
Asked whether he liked working with Congress Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan or Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, who held the top post from November 2019 to June 2022, Pawar said they worked with the latter “happily”, but working with the former was out of choice.
On Mr Shinde’s revolt and subsequent split in the Shiv Sena, the former deputy Chief Minister said they used to hear that Shinde, then his Cabinet colleague in the MVA government, was unhappy and sensed something was going in his mind.
“We had alerted Pawar saheb (NCP president Sharad Pawar) and Thackeray was also apprised about it. The BJP had been trying to pull down the MVA government since the first day of its formation. The wife of a key politician confessed later that her husband used to go out in disguise, and later some ministers said Shinde and a particular leader used to meet,” Pawar said without taking any names.
He said during the MVA government, Thackeray had given full control of Thane district to Shinde, then a Cabinet Minister, and some officials appointed by him had helped rebel Shiv Sena MLAs to sneak out of Mumbai and reach Surat on June 20.
Queried about him being soft on senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, Pawar said the two had political and ideological differences but weren’t enemies, and cited the example of Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray who attacked each other during rallies and speeches but were good friends.
Pawar went on to add that a commonality between him and Fadnavis was that they were both born on July 22. Pawar was born in 1959 and Fadnavis in 1970. Speaking about the rise of the BJP over the last few years, Pawar said it was all due to the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who managed to lead the party to a majority in consecutive Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019, a feat which even veterans like former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his deputy Lal Krishna Advani could not manage.
“However, today when the question is asked who after Modi, then no name comes to the fore, and we know going forward there will be coalition governments at the national level,” the NCP leader added.