Pawars amidst power

• Recently, the grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, Srinivas Pawar went public with his criticism of brother and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader, Ajit Pawar.
• Lok Sabha Election 2024 saw Sharad Pawar’s NCP winning eight out of the ten seats it contested wherein Ajit Pawar stood from four seats and bagged one. Soon after that, Ajit Pawar venerated Senior Pawar to have mentored the organization.
• And as time twists Ajit Pawar came out in full praise of Sharad Pawar during the NCP Foundation Day celebrations surprising the gathering soon after the poll results.
• The Deputy CM applauded the NCP founder for establishing Nationalist Congress Party over the Congress nationality of Sonia Gandhi.
• NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeated her sister-in-law, NCP candidate Sunetra Pawar, in the Baramati by polls by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. While Sunetra got 5,73,979 votes, Supriya won the elections by securing 7,32,312 votes.

What happened in 2023

• Nationalist Congress Party had split in 2023. NCP founder’s daughter and two-time MP, Surpiya Sule had stated that the party had divided on ideological difference and has nothing to do with internal family matters.
• NCP Chief remained impassive with Ajit Pawar’s rebellion and was not worried on losing NCP name and symbol as long as the people resonate the party core.
• When the two factions emerged in July 2023, Ajit Pawar had eight MLAs joining the Eknath Shinde government bifurcating the Sharad Pawar-led party into two loyalties.
• Ajit Pawar too remained austere when he said he wanted to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and also took a dig at Sharad Pawar’s retirement. He was satirical when he said ‘You are 83, aren’t you going to stop?’
• Ajit Pawar was elected NCP chief through a resolution dated June 30, 2023 signed by an ‘overwhelming majority’ of members of the party, both from the legislative and organisational wing. Over 40 affidavits of MLAs and MPs of the Ajit Pawar faction filed affidavits in his support. The Sharad Pawar camp has filed a caveat with the poll authority urging it to hear them first before passing any directive in connection with the factional fight.
• Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, a Lok Sabha MP, retaliated at her rebel cousin Ajit Pawar, saying she would not tolerate a single word spoken against her father.

Editor’s Note

Lok Sabha poll result buoyed Sharad Pawar faction for sure and the party organization is resolved to zoom for the next big challenge in the form of the Assembly elections. However, at this event, the heated statements exchanged amidst NCP(SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, state party chief Jayant Patil and grandnephew of Sharad Pawar remain a concern for the party.

Keywords

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