Expressing grief over the tragic death of Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar recently, home minister Amit Shah had said that Ajit’s untimely death “has created such a void in Maharashtra politics that it will not be filled for a long time”. Shah’s statement, beyond its political import, means different things to different people. For the death of a mass leader who commanded a strong position in the state’s politics, more so after he parted ways with his uncle, Sharad Pawar, by splitting the Nationalist Congress Party three years ago, has many implications not only for his party and the faction headed by his uncle, but also for the state’s politics.
For the tripolar alliance, of which Ajit Pawar was one of the strong leaders, his death is likely to change the political equation within the ruling alliance—weakening the NCP’s political heft. This will help Eknath Shinde, according to political analysts, emerge as a strong regional force to influence and shape political outcomes. This is largely because Sunetra Pawar’s hasty succession to the posts of state NCP legislature party leader and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister does not carry the same political weight that her late husband—a mass leader with strong grassroots connections in western Maharashtra and deep roots in cooperative societies, banking, and agriculture—did in the NCP, in the alliance, as well as in the state’s muddled political ecosystem. So, where does all this leave the NCP now?
Forced to step into a frontline leadership role by fate, Sunetra faces many political and organisational challenges to hold clout and heft within the NCP and the ruling alliance. In highly competitive and personality-driven Maharashtra politics, this is not going to be easy and will have political implications for the NCP, unless Sunetra proves her leadership credentials decisively. As things stand, her job is pretty cut out: handle the coalition’s pressure and manage the party’s assertive regional leaders brought together by Ajit, who held immense clout and heft in the party. Even if she is now the deputy CM, it does not mean she commands the authority Ajit exercised over the NCP. With her limited experience in administration, political bargaining, and restricted influence, Sunetra’s initial political test does not seem easy amid the state’s reshaped political landscape.
Three years ago, in an interview with a Marathi daily, Sunetra had said that she was never interested in politics. “It is not my arena. There are many people around me who insist that I join politics, but I never thought in that direction,” she had confessed. Three years later, she is in the thick of things that are not her forte. Her entry into active politics is closely tied to Ajit Pawar’s recent controversial political journey—the split of the NCP in 2023 and now a bigger role in both party and government. On both occasions, she did not choose politics but was forced to step into it by circumstances. In 2024, she was fielded as the NCP’s candidate from Baramati against Supriya Sule but lost badly. Ajit Pawar later admitted that pitching his wife against his cousin sister was not the right decision.
Months later, Ajit nominated Sunetra to the Rajya Sabha, a move that reportedly did not go down well within his party. In the current scenario, her elevation to deputy chief minister’s post seems to be the only politically viable solution or acceptable option before the party, though the decision did raise questions, more so after Sharad Pawar said he was in the dark. Sunetra’s rise, after decades of social work and development initiatives in Baramati, has come at a time when the NCP is part of the ruling alliance, though the original party is divided between some leaders who stayed with Sharad Pawar and others who joined Ajit Pawar. Now there are all kinds of rumours and speculations about the likely merger of the two NCP factions.
There is little clarity on whether Sunetra’s elevation will affect the ongoing behind-the-scenes merger talks with Sharad Pawar. But her immediate concerns, according to political observers, would be to consolidate her hold on the party and safeguard NCP’s position and political interests in the Mahayuti government. Ajit Pawar was no pushover, and after joining the alliance and following the November 2024 assembly election, in which his party emerged with an impressive performance, he had exercised direct control over key ministries and was the NCP’s key negotiator with the BJP. The task before Sunetra is to ensure a level playing field for her party in terms of ministerial strength and key portfolios.
While maintaining her hold over the party’s legislators and safeguarding NCP’s collective position in the alliance, it goes without saying that she will be required to bargain hard for portfolios in any future cabinet reshuffle and make her voice count in policy decisions. A reluctant politician, Sunetra Pawar is yet to be perceived as a leader with a statewide political hold and influence over the party’s organisation and administration. Since loyalty to the party and the Pawar family are inseparable in the NCP, her anointment to the party’s legislature leadership role and deputy CM’s post has helped consolidate cadre loyalty and political sentiment around the family.
The NCP’s power structure was largely centred around Ajit Pawar. Sunetra’s elevation may have addressed the leadership issue for now, but the question remains whether she can consolidate her leadership within the party, particularly in the presence of several senior leaders who are well-entrenched within the party organisation. It remains to be seen how she manages and exercises control over senior NCP leaders with strong bases and influence across regions and organisational wings. The split in the NCP is said to have been partly driven by differences with Sharad Pawar over his style of leadership and political strategy. Ajit Pawar and his flock of senior leaders, who went with him, did so largely for power. Ajit’s death has left the two factions of the NCP in a flux.
Sunetra’s anointment as the Deputy CM may have jeopardised the NCP merger for now. But if at all the reunion of the two NCP factions does materialise, where does that place Sunetra in a larger leadership matrix dominated by Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule?
The writer is a senior independent Mumbai-based journalist. He tweets at @ali_chougule
