'A Mistake': Sharad Pawar On Taking Ajit Pawar Back After 2019 Oath-Taking Episode With Fadnavis

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar stated that "it was a mistake" to take Deputy CM Ajit Pawar back into the party after his oath-taking episode with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis back in 2019.

The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections is just a few days away and will witness 11 constituencies of Maharashtra including the crucial Baramati seat casting ballots on May 7. Ahead of phase 4, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) supremo and four time Maharashtra CM Sharad Pawar said that "it was a mistake" to take NCP leader and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar back into the party after he took oath with Devendra Fadnavis in 2019. 

On the NCP split and taking back Ajit Pawar once again after reports of split, Sharad Pawar said: "He had accepted that he had committed a mistake and wanted a chance. Since people often commit mistakes in politics, we had decided to give him another chance. But looking at today's situation we feel that we took a wrong decision to give him the opportunity," he told NDTV.

Responding to the question on the seat-sharing issues within the I.N.D.I.A bloc and whether it is emerging successfull in competing with the NDA and Mahayuti in Maharashtra, the NCP (SP) chief said, " I think there was always a motivation to work together as one. The meaning of seats is that there will always be some differences. Therefore, we decided to overlook the differences and work together on the seats where it is possible to do so."   

"After the results are out, we will all sit together and decide how to proceed further on the basis of the numbers. At that time there will be no seats, elections, or voting, at that we will decide a common program to decide our next approach," he added. 

In 2019, the BJP won 23 out of the 25 seats it contested from the state, while its alliance partner, the undivided Shiv Sena won a total of 18 seats out of the 23 seats. The undivided NCP which was part of the opposition alliance managed to win just 4 seats out of the 19 seats it had contested from.

The NCP Split

Ajit Pawar, in another controversial move, took an oath as Deputy CM with Devendra Fadnavis in November 2019, forming a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party. This government lasted for just three days, witnessing the resignations of both Fadnavis and Pawar resigning from their respective positions. 

Thereafter, the NCP finally came back to power as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, an alliance between Shiv Sena and Congress.

This resulted in Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray being sworn in as the Maharashtra CM on November 28, 2019. 

Finally in 2023, the NCP split after Ajit Pawar walked away with the majority of the MLAs and joined hands with the saffron party. In a major shocker to his uncle Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, backed by several MLAs took an oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in the Eknath Shinde-led government, thereby splitting the party.

Eight other NCP MLAs including senior leaders Dilip Walse Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dhananay Munde, took an oath as ministers in the state government at a ceremony in Raj Bhawan. Before taking this step, Pawar had hinted about his desire to step down as the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Following this, the Maharashtra Cabinet had nine ministers from BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and NCP.

In 2022, Eknath Shinde staged a similar split when he walked away with the majority of the Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs and joined hands with the BJP.

Ajit Pawar Faction: The "Real" NCP

The Ajit Pawar-led NCP was recently recognised as the "real" NCP by the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker and the Election Commission, just like the Shinde-led faction.

Ending the long-running dispute between both factions, the election body gave the Ajit Pawar faction the party's name and symbol and gave Sharad Pawar the concession to name his new political formation.