Is Ajit Pawar planning another shocker? This is the question that occupies the minds of politically engaged people in Maharashtra these days. The basis of such doubt is the recent bonhomie witnessed between Ajit Pawar and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Last week, the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature concluded in Nagpur. During the session, Anil Deshmukh, then incarcerated NCP leader and former home minister of Maharashtra got bail and was set to come out from Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai. Ajit Pawar had planned to take a break from his legislative responsibilities and fly to Mumbai to welcome Deshmukh. However, a business advisory committee meeting was called up and Ajit Pawar being the leader of the opposition was required to be present. Pawar shared his dilemma with CM Eknath Shinde who promptly offered him to use his official plane to fly to Mumbai. This cordial act of Shinde raised several eyebrows.
In another instance, Eknath Shinde accepted Ajit Pawar’s request of retaining a government bungalow named Deogiri. Usually, this lavish bungalow is allotted to the second most powerful minister in the cabinet after CM or to the deputy CM, however, the Shinde government allotted it to Pawar at his request. Interestingly, current deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis continues to live in the Sagar bungalow that was allotted to him when he was the leader of the opposition.
Another incident that was noticed by political journalists was the proposal of a No-Confidence motion against Vidhansabha speaker Rahul Narvekar sans the signature of Ajit Pawar. Many stalwarts of Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) signed it but Pawar’s signature wasn't there despite him being the biggest face of the opposition.
Ajit Pawar bears many identities. He is a stalwart of NCP, he has been deputy CM of Maharashtra, he is the nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, and he also has a reputation for giving shockers. One couldn't forget the morning of 23 November 2019, when he appeared on TV taking oath as deputy CM along with Fadnavis who became the CM.
Ajit Pawar engineered a coup along with 12 MLAs at a time when his party was conducting talks with the Shiv Sena and the Congress to form a triparty government after Vidhansabha results were out. Although the government couldn't survive for more than three days, it strengthened the image of Ajit Pawar as an unpredictable politician who wasn’t averse to adopting Machiavellian ways to fulfil his ambitions. The recent affability between Pawar and Shinde is viewed with suspicion because of the 2019 experience.
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