It’s been a rollercoaster fortnight for Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. He has remained the focus of attention for the entire media in the state and all eyes are currently on what he does next. The discomfort between him and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been in the news for a few weeks now. To add to it, certain incidents in former IPS officer Meera Borwankar’s book, about how Pawar tried to influence some government decisions about a large plot of land in Pune district, has caused him further discomfort. On Tuesday Pawar came out with a detailed explanation about the incident. In a rare move he seemed to be trying to control the major damage caused by the allegations in the book.
Before this incident came up, Pawar was already at the centre of attention because of his turf war against the BJP in Pune. It all started with Ajit Pawar demanding the guardian ministership for Pune district, a position held by BJP heavyweight Chandrakantdada Patil. After much deliberations and a couple of trips to the national capital by both the deputy chief ministers, the BJP finally agreed to hand over the guardian ministership of Pune to Ajit Pawar. This was the second time Ajit Pawar had been insistent on getting a position in the current government. Previously, he had put up a similar struggle to get the finance portfolio in the Maharashtra government. There have been several incidents that point towards how Shinde is very uncomfortable with Pawar gaining ground.
Ajit Pawar has always been very possessive about controlling Pune district, which is his political home turf. It is now obvious that there is going to be major political competition between him and the BJP within various public and cooperative organisations. Many local BJP leaders in Pune openly express opposition to the party’s decision to get into an alliance with Ajit Pawar. The party is obviously trying to fill the vacuum created by Uddav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena which left them and Eknath Shinde’s group without any presence in certain districts of Maharashtra. It is very unclear how the seat-sharing between the BJP and Ajit Pawar's NCP is going to take place in places like Pune where both sides have solid and widespread presence on the ground. As Ajit Pawar took over as guardian minister of Pune district, his supporters in Pune city and surrounding areas took out victory rallies and put up huge hoardings portraying him as the next chief minister. This obviously did not go down well with the BJP leaders and cadre in Pune city, a stronghold of the BJP, which sends eight seats to the assembly.
Ajit Pawar is currently seen holding many political rallies all across western Maharashtra connecting with his supporters and trying to persuade many leaders from his uncle Sharad Pawar’s party to cross over and join him. The political picture in many districts of western Maharashtra is getting slightly confused because now there are two factions of the NCP, there is the Congress which still has some traditional base and the BJP has also made inroads in many parts of western Maharashtra. Too many organisations competing with each other, too many aspiring leaders and too much crossing over from one party to another has made the picture totally unpredictable. Ajit Pawar seems to be at the centre of this game and very much in the media focus fighting his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP on one side and then subtly competing with his own alliance partners the BJP as well as Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena within the government!
Against this backdrop, the incidents narrated in a book by a former IPS officer and former Commissioner of Police in Pune city Meera Borwankar came as a shocker for everybody. Meera Borwankar has narrated in her book an incident about how Ajit Pawar over 10 years ago tried to influence a government decision about a large plot of land, proposed to be handed over to a private builder under the government's PPP or Public Private Partnership to build government infrastructure. Borwankar has always been known to the media in Maharashtra as an upright and honest officer. Her narration of how Ajit Pawar asked her to not oppose the handover of government land to a private developer came as something that would potentially damage politically ambitious Ajit Pawar's public image. Especially after Borwankar held a press conference in Delhi on Monday and confirmed the allegations of her being denied the position of state CID chief after she refused to allow the handover of the Pune land.
Finally, after three or four days of media reportage on the subject and speculation flying all over, on Tuesday Ajit Pawar held a press conference in Mumbai and denied the allegation. He explained how the land parcel was still in government possession, and how he only mentioned the subject to the officer because a committee set up by the government had recommended such a deal with the private developer. He said that he thought it was in the public interest and would save government funds if such a proposal was accepted.
This is not the first time that Ajit Pawar has faced allegations of this nature. Some years ago he held a press conference in Mumbai and got emotional over the allegations of misappropriation in the State Cooperative Bank. Previously certain allegations were levelled against him by the BJP in the multi crore state irrigation scam. Obviously if allegations happen repeatedly, the public perception about a leader starts to change and becomes a hurdle in the growth. It is very interesting to see how Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis both have totally avoided any comment on the allegations levelled in the book. They have not said anything against him, but neither have they come out to defend their colleague in the state government.
It is clear that Ajit Pawar will not face any action or even an inquiry into Borwankar’s statement, because the handover of the land did not actually take place and he had no official participation in the government committee’s proposal for such a handover. But a former senior officer making such information public in writing can tarnish Pawar’s political image. Moreover, the top leadership of the state BJP and the leadership of the ruling Shiv Sena, both of whom share power with Ajit Pawar, are not defending him and are in fact maintaining distance from him. A clear indication of the many challenges that the ambitious Ajit Pawar faces, and that his path for further growth in politics is not easy!
Rohit Chandavarkar is a senior journalist who has worked for 31 years with various leading newspaper brands and television channels in Mumbai and Pune
