A late-night discussion between some of the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) senior leaders and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai has given rise to speculation about what exactly is happening inside the NCP, which has 41 members in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
State cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal, former minister Dhananjay Munde and a few other leaders from the NCP met CM Fadnavis at his residence on Monday night.
There has been a buzz in Mumbai about which way the NCP is headed, whether there will be a split in the party or if some of its leaders may leave the party and align with the BJP.
Political churn in Maharashtra
Maharashtra has seen a lot of political turmoil in the past few years. The general feeling was that since the election season was over and the state was not likely to face any big elections for the next three years, the political scene would remain calm.
However, what is being witnessed is constant political turbulence and multiple parties being in flux.
Just a few weeks ago, there was a buzz that some MPs of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena might decide to align with the NDA. However, that turned out to be a rumour.
This time round, there is wider speculation about what some of the leaders in the NCP, such as Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, are likely to do in the coming weeks and months.
Questions over leadership within NCP
At the root of the problem seems to be the division inside the NCP — those belonging to the Pawar family and those getting ambitious and trying to take control of the party after Ajit Pawar’s sudden death.
Just after Ajit Pawar’s death, it was decided that his wife, Sunetra Pawar, would take over as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
But the question of who would be the party’s national president, the post Ajit Pawar held, remained unanswered for a long time, and there was some buzz in the national media that Praful Patel, who was the working president of the party, would become the NCP’s national president.
However, after some swift moves by the Pawar family, Sumitra Pawar became the national president of the party.
This made it very clear that Sunetra Pawar would be the face of the party in Maharashtra politics as well as in the state government.
Pawar family’s grip under scrutiny
It is becoming clearer that the Pawar family wants to retain control of the NCP in toto.
Which leads to three pertinent questions: firstly, whether party founder Sharad Pawar is backing Sunetra Pawar and others in this exercise; secondly, whether the Pawar family, in the absence of Ajit Pawar, will be able to control the party and ensure that it survives as one unit; and thirdly, what will be the reaction of the leaders who have been left out in this exercise.
The Pawar family has a certain amount of political hold over various organisations in western Maharashtra, including the co-operative sector.
The question being asked now is whether Sunetra Pawar and her son, Parth Pawar, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha recently, will be able to retain control and manage the party’s growth in the future.
Senior leaders and possible realignments
Insiders say that a group of leaders like Prafull Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare and Dhananjay Munde, who are not from the Pawar family, have been on the same page.
They feel that they have political clout in western Maharashtra and north Maharashtra, as well as Marathwada, and they have had a good rapport with the ruling NDA for the past two years.
The buzz in Mumbai is that these leaders may spring a big surprise if they get the support of some of the MLAs who also want to align with the NDA.
The BJP may be actively supporting them to ensure Sharad Pawar’s hold on the party and its 41 MLAs in the House is weakened.
Battle between old guard and younger generation
Since Parth Pawar is taking the front seat in this political shift and his cousin, Rohit Pawar, from the other faction of the NCP under the leadership of Sharad Pawar, is also getting active, many are looking at this political struggle as a battle between the old guard and the young turks.
Another question that obviously comes to the mind of those who have a ringside view of the action is whether the two factions of the NCP will finally come together under the guidance of Sharad Pawar.
Clearly, the current situation presents more questions than answers. But many believe that some big changes are likely to happen inside the NCP.
Some of the heavyweight leaders, who have been around for more than three decades, may be seen shifting sides. There may be an internal conflict between the Pawar family loyalists and those who want to create their own identities.
What was discussed between the NCP leaders and CM Fadnavis remains a secret, but that discussion may give rise to major twists inside the NCP and could become public in the near future.
Rohit Chandavarkar is a senior journalist who has worked for 31 years with various leading newspaper brands and television channels in Mumbai and Pune.
