In a stunning turn of events in Maharashtra, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday returned as Chief Minister propped up by NCP's Ajit Pawar, who was made his deputy, just hours after the new alliance of Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress reached a consensus that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will be their chief ministerial candidate.
While the news of Ajit’s betrayal had stunned many early in the morning, when people were still reading in the newspapers that Uddhav Thackeray was poised to become chief minister at the head of a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition. But rebellion and tension were brewing up in the Pawar family of Baramati for some time.
"I have seen several such crises in life," Sharad Pawar told Deccan Herald, this came after Supriya Sule changed her WhatsApp status to: "party and family split".
Rebellion and tension started in 1999 Vidhan Sabha polls when NCP and Congress came together to form the Democratic Front government. There were too many aspirants for the post of deputy chief ministers and Ajit Pawar was ignored. In 2004 polls, when NCP got more numbers, Pawar gave away the post of CM against important portfolios. In fact, Ajit was very unhappy but could not say much.
When in 2006, Pawar launched Supriya in politics and sent her to Rajya Sabha, a rift among the family and the two cousins surfaced. Thereafter, in 2012, his name cropped up in the Rs 70,000 irrigation scam after which he resigned as deputy chief minister only to assume the post a month later.
Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly election 2019, Sharad Pawar and Ajit were booked in the Rs 25,000 Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam by the Mumbai police and Enforcement Directorate. While Pawar senior decided to walk to the ED office without even being summoned, putting the BJP-led government in defensive, the junior felt ignored. Later, Ajit Pawar abruptly resigned as MLA. While the cracks in relations were hidden for so long, the split became wide open on Saturday.
