Family Fracture

After more than a year of frenetic speculation, the Pawars of Baramati now seem to be visibly and definitively divided. This Diwali, Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, broke a five-decade tradition by hosting his own Diwali Padwa celebration, a custom long overseen by his uncle, Sharad Pawar, at his Govind Baugh residence in Baramati. The split festivities underscore a deepening fissure within Maharashtra’s most iconic political dynasty, and mark Ajit’s intent to assert an independent influence over the constituency his uncle has cultivated for decades.

While Ajit’s decision to join the ruling Mahayuti coalition with the BJP and CM Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena in July 2023 after splitting the NCP founded by his uncle indicated a clear rift, the political class and public alike had remained sceptical about its genuineness. Many believed it was a strategic divergence rather than a lasting break—a ploy by the Machiavellian Pawar senior the high-stakes chess game of Maharashtra politics. Ajit’s frequent meetings with Sharad Pawar at different venues in the months immediately after the rift only fueled these suspicions, suggesting he might eventually return to his uncle’s fold and that it was an elaborate deception plan to checkmate the BJP in Maharashtra led by Devendra Fadnavis.

While these rumours about Ajit being a ‘Trojan Horse’ in the ‘enemy’ Mahayuti camp continue to simmer, Ajit’s decision to host his own Diwali Padwa celebrations ought to send a resounding message that this split is genuine and unlikely to heal soon.

However, since last July, the rift between the two NCP factions has only deepened, culminating in the bitterly contested Baramati Lok Sabha race. Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, the opposition MVA’s candidate, decisively held her seat against a strong challenge from Ajit’s wife, Sunetra, representing the Mahayuti.

Despite Ajit Pawar and the BJP and Shinde Sena straining every sinew for Sunetra Pawar, she lost heavily to Supriya Sule by over 1.5 lakh votes – a defeat that continues to rankles with Ajit and adding to the ignominy of Lok Sabha defeats from his family. (In 2019, Ajit’s son, Parth Pawar, had crashed in the Maval Lok Sabha contest, becoming the first member in the Pawar clan to lose an election).

Sule’s win demonstrated the formidable support base the senior Pawar faction still commands in Baramati. Now, to supplant Ajit as legislator of Baramati Assembly segment, which he has held for nearly 35 years straight, the canny Sharad Pawar has fielded Ajit’s own nephew, Yugendra, giving a perverse yet ironic twist to the uncle-nephew saga in Maharashtra politics.

In this light, Ajit’s Padwa gathering indicated that the divide within the family is no longer a mere rumour but a palpable, public reality. His decision to hold a separate Padwa celebration now makes the split appear irrevocable while indicating his steely resolve to defend Baramati against his own nephew, Yugendra Pawar.