Mumbai: The crisis within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) exacerbated on Saturday with its president Sharad Pawar (82) completely marginalising his nephew Ajit Pawar (63). This has, in effect, cleared the way for the latter to join hands with the ruling BJP along with his supporters, a move which has been in the pipeline for the past few months.
In a related development, a faction within the Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde is also preparing the ground to walk over to the BJP.
On Saturday, Pawar Sr appointed his daughter Supriya Sule (53) and party MP Praful Patel (66) as working presidents of the organisation.
On May 2, Pawar had in a sudden move announced his decision to step down as the party president. While Ajit Pawar appealed to the rank and file to respect his uncle's decision, the majority of cadres insisted that Sharad Pawar rescind his move. The second rung leadership, including Chhagan Bhujbal, Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, asked Sharad Pawar to stay put, but appoint someone to take care of organisational affairs.
It is as per this formula that Sule and Patel were handpicked for the posts of working presidents. Sources in the party said now on power effectively will be wielded by Supriya while Patel's has been added just to fend off possible criticism of dynastic politics.
Now the line of succession is very clear with senior Pawar handing over the baton to Supriya. For the sake of record, Ajit Pawar has welcomed the decision, but he is anything but happy since he has been isolated completely now.
BJP's Strategy to Divide NCP and Shiv Sena
With his own uncle making it clear that he has no future in the NCP now, Ajit Pawar most likely will join hands with the BJP. The probe against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) continues to hang like the proverbial sword of Damocles over his head.
He also has a good equation with deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, with whom he had formed an all too brief coalition government in November, 2019.
If this happens, then the BJP would have succeeded in splitting the NCP, just the way it had divided the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. The BJP's game plan is to emaciate both the Shiv Sena and the NCP so much that they pose no serious political threat to its dominance over the political landscape of Maharashtra.
