Sharad Pawar has once again shocked the entire political section of not just Maharashtra, but the entire country. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar today announced that he is stepping down as the chief of Nationalist Congress Party, a party he formed in 1999 after separating from Congress.
The timing of this announcement is the most crucial part of it. Within next two weeks, the Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Uddhav Thackeray's plea seeking disqualification of Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and 15 other MLAs. Before this, Maharashtra's political world was buzzed with a couple of rumours, including Ajit Pawar's likely alliance with BJP and a possibility of Devendra Fadnavis becoming Maharashtra chief minister.
Social and mainstream media were filled with stories of Pawar's nephew and NCP leader Ajit Pawar planning to joining hands with BJP. The other important news in the media last week was about a change of guard in Maharashtra government saying Eknath Shinde will be the Deputy CM and Devendra Fadnavis will be promoted as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, though all the political parties dismissed these rumours.
Pawar's surprise move
The sudden announcement by Sharad Pawar to step down as NCP head, going to the change the face of Maharashtra politics as anyone's guess. NCP is one of the important parties in Maharashtra, with a strong hold on western Maharashtra and Maratha voters.
The announcement of Pawar senior will open a can of worms within the party. The key question is who will be the new chief of NCP. It's no secret that Sharad Pawar has always wanted his daughter Supriya Sule to take over and lead the party. But, it was a given that Ajit Pawar's stature in the party and his ambition to lead the party won't let Supriya Sule take the rein.
Ajit Pawar, while speaking to media said that, "An internal committee has been formed and this committee will decide the next course of action."
Ashutosh Patil, Editor, Network 18, said, "We have learnt from our sources that the senior leaders of the party are trying to convince Sharad Pawar to reconsider his decision."
However, the NCP chief's sudden plan to step down can affect the current political landscape of Maharashtra and the current fabric of NCP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. At the same time, experts aren't ruling out the possibility of a new alliance as well.
The announcement of Sharad Pawar resigning as chief of NCP just a day after the MVA rally -- Vajramuth held at Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex -- had also led to certain rumours that the sudden decision was followed after a consensus within the Pawar family.
"An earlier speculation that Ajit Pawar may join BJP and the MVA alliance is likely to get impacted or reshaped, also strengthened this speculation that a change of guard might be imperative in NCP," said a political observer, who closely watch the State politics.
While the NCP founder and chief Sharad Pawar's absence among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders at the massive rally on the Maharashtra Day (1st May) was visibly felt and Ajit Pawar took the lead in attacking the ruling Shivsena (Shinde faction)-BJP government challenging the ruling alliance to face election, the speculation over the said consensus got consolidated among the state political observers.
However, the NCP supremo's decision will definitely have critical impacts on the three-party coalition. Since Maha Vikas Aghadi, which was formed by an alliance of three parties with different ideologies, came into existence predominantly with the political influence and acumen of Sharad Pawar -- the commonly accepted leader, his decision to withdraw from active politics has worried the coalition leaders.
(With additional inputs from CNBCTV-18 .com editorial desk)
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
First Published: May 2, 2023 4:34 PM IST
