Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 2: In a surprise decision that may impact the course of the country’s political direction, the veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced his resignation as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) formed by him 24 years ago and constitution of a committee to decide the next party chief.
The 82-year old Sharad Pawar had not only stitched together the then near impossible alliance between his party, the Congress and the Shiv Sena to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to take over the reins of Maharashtra from the BJP in 2019, he is also considered to be one of the main players if a joint opposition front against the BJP is to materialise before the 2024 Parliamentary elections.
Though Pawar said his resignation from the post of the NCP chief did not mean he was taking total “sanyas” from politics and would continue to take part in social activities, his resignation from the NCP chief’s post is likely to weaken both the MVA and the grandiose efforts to bring the warring non-BJP parties together to form a grand alliance to challenge the prime minister Narendra Modi.
His resignation particularly amid the buzz around his nephew and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar warming up to the BJP may directly hit the MVA and change the Maharashtra politics if Ajit Pawar joined hands with the saffron party with a group of NCP legislators.
Announcing his big move at the release of the second edition of his political memoirs in Mumbai on Tuesday, the former Union Minister and four-time Maharashtra Chief Minister said he was stepping down as president of the party and would not be contesting elections in the future. He said he has three years remaining in Rajya Sabha during which he would focus on issues related to Maharashtra in India with a caveat of not taking any responsibility.
“After a long period of public life from May 1, 1960, to May 1, 2023, it is necessary to take a step back. Hence, I have decided to step down as President of the Nationalist Congress Party,” he announced. However, he said, he intended to do more in the fields of education, agriculture, cooperation, sports, and culture, amongst others. “I will also pay attention to issues related to the youth, students, workers, Dalits, tribal and other weaker sections of the society,” Pawar said.
A committee will be formed to decide who should be given the responsibility of the party’s chief, he said and added that the panel should have senior members including Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel and others. “This committee will decide on the president’s selection. It will continue to strive for the growth of the party organisation, to take the ideology and goals of the party to the people, and to serve the people, as they deem fit
“My colleagues, even though I am stepping down from the post of president, I am not retiring from public life. ‘Constant travel’ has become an integral part of my life. I will continue attending public events, and meetings. Whether I am in Pune, Mumbai, Baramati, Delhi or any other part of India, I will be available to all of you as usual. I will continue to work round the clock to solve people’s problems,” Pawar said. “The love and trust of the people is my breath. There will be no separation from me or public retirement. I was with you; I am and will always be there till my last breath! So we’ll keep meeting,” the NCP patriarch said.
Soon after Mr. Pawar announced his decision to step down, his party cadre urged him to reconsider his decision saying they won’t leave the auditorium till he does so. Emotional party workers and leaders begged Pawar to withdraw his decision and said they wouldn’t leave unless he did so. Top NCP leader and Rajya Sabha Praful Patel said Sharad Pawar did not take anyone into confidence before announcing his resignation.
The announcement sparked loud protests by NCP workers and leaders, who demanded that Pawar withdraw his decision and stay on as party chief. Several party leaders, including MLA Jayant Patil, broke down following the surprise announcement, visuals from the venue showed. Senior leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Jitendra Awhad and Dilip Walse said they were not ready to accept Pawar’s decision.
A group of party workers left the auditorium and started a sit-in outside it where slogans in support of Pawar were raised. “We’re not ready to accept your decision of resigning from the post of NCP president. We want you to reconsider your decision,” said NCP leaders including Chhagan Bhujbal, Jitendra Awhad and Dilip Walse Patil.
Reports that Ajit Pawar may take over gained traction when he said the “next president of NCP will work under Sharad Pawar’s guidance.” “Pawar Saheb himself had said about the necessity of change in guard a few days back. We should see his decision in the light of his age and health. Everyone has to take a decision according to time, Pawar Saheb has taken a decision, and he won’t take it back”, Ajit Pawar said. Ajit Pawar also said his uncle had planned to announce his resignation on May 1 (Monday) but put it off due to a rally of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
When other leaders insisted that Ms Sule, a Lok Sabha MP, urge her father to withdraw the decision, Ajit Pawar asked her not to say anything.
Speculation of Ajit Pawar jumping ship peaked when he skipped a meeting of his party’s Mumbai unit last month. He had claimed that he had other engagements, so had to miss the NCP convention. He also declared that he would work for the NCP “till I’m alive.” After Sharad Pawar’s shock move, many suggested that it would clear the path for an Ajit Pawar-led NCP to join hands with the BJP.
BJP leaders have openly egged on Ajit Pawar to switch sides, though the party’s Maharashtra ally, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has made it clear that he opposes it. The Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction has said it won’t be a part of the government in Maharashtra if Ajit Pawar joins the BJP with a group of NCP leaders.
Ajit Pawar, to the embarrassment of Sharad Pawar, had on November 23, 2019, taken oath as Deputy Chief Minister with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister, but the government fell without proving its majority on November 28.
Notably, Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule had exactly 15 days ago hinted at “two big political explosions” in the next 15 days. “One (explosion) in Delhi and one in Maharashtra,” Supriya Sule, a senior NCP MP, told reporters, responding to Prakash Ambedkar’s comment on “big political explosions in 15 days.”
The BJP, which is reportedly angling for a tie-up to bolster its numbers in Maharashtra, had earlier said it would “welcome” Ajit Pawar, if he were to jump ship. The speculation had intensified with some MLAs expressing support for “Ajit dada.”
The announcement by Sharad Govindrao Pawar who had formed the NCP on June 10, 1999 – is a testimony of his pragmatic politics. Pawar, who has said he would continue his “political and social work in public life”, along with travel, has always known where and when to stop in his over five decades of political career.
A native of Baramati, Pawar had taken a plunge into politics soon after doing his graduation in Commerce from Pune. At the young age of 27, he contested his first MLA election on a Congress ticket from Baramati in 1968, and won. He retained the seat in successive elections till 1990. In 1978, just 10 years after becoming an MLA for the first time, he became the youngest chief minister of Maharashtra at the age of 38. While he would become CM three more times – a record for the state — none of his tenures lasted a full five years.
While he might have risen from rural Maharashtra, Pawar, a Maratha leader, proved himself a visionary when it came to socio-economic development of the state. His politics was also defined by his ability to earn and sustain goodwill from both ruling and opposition leaders cutting across ideological differences.
This proved handy when he moved to Central politics. The Union Defence Minister in the 1991-1996 government of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, he held the reins as Leader of the Opposition for the Congress in 1998-1999.
After Sonia Gandhi finally joined politics in 1999, persuaded by the Congress ranks, Pawar – who held ambitions of rising to the top – objected on the grounds of her “foreign origins.” He was expelled from the Congress, and took along P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar to form the NCP.
Within a year, in 2000, the NCP had earned national party recognition, after registering its presence in Maharashtra, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur. In what might be seen as life coming full circle as Pawar exits a formal NCP role, the party just recently lost its national identity, as well as state party status in Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya.
But the Pawar-led NCP and Congress came together to fight the Assembly elections in Maharashtra together the same year that he parted ways with the Congress, and won. And when the UPA 1 and UPA 2 came to power at the Centre with Manmohan Singh as the prime minister in 2004 and 2009, Pawar held the portfolio of Agriculture. This suited the Maratha leader well, agriculture being close to his heart and helping him sustain his rural base. He is credited with ushering in reforms that helped India emerge surplus in foodgrains during this time.
Given Pawar’s imprint on national as well as state politics – above and beyond the NCP’s numbers — the Opposition will feel his absence, especially at a time when the BJP is threatening to take over as the principal Maharashtra party as well. Pawar continues to be seen as the one force who can forge together like-minded “secular” parties against the BJP.