In the shadow of the Maratha strongman

Ajit Pawar is trying to escape the long political shadow of his uncle, Sharad Pawar. But can he build a legacy of his own before time runs out?

In the state’s dense political thicket, dynasties often branch out in unpredictable directions. The most notable offshoot of this instance has to be Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who, after spending much of his political life in the shadow of his uncle, Maratha warhorse and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, is determined to leave a legacy of his own.

Now in his mid-sixties, ‘Ajit Dada’ (as he is popularly called) had stunned Maharashtra’s political landscape by splitting the NCP and exiting his uncle’s orbit. Taking with him 40 MLAs and a significant chunk of the party’s organisation, he aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti coalition. In return, he was rewarded with the post of Deputy Chief Minister, the powerful Finance Ministry and most notably, the Guardian Ministership of Pune district that was snatched from local BJP heavyweight Chandrakant Patil. The move ruffled feathers within BJP’s cadre, especially in rural Pune, but senior BJP leaders in Delhi signalled support. Dissension quickly quietened.

At the time, Maharashtra was gearing up for the 2024 general elections. The BJP, under pressure from anti-incumbency sentiments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had pitched Ajit’s induction into the alliance as pragmatic politics. Devendra Fadnavis, then Deputy Chief Minister and still the BJP’s key strategist in the state, had rationalised the arrangement as a necessary compromise. Internally, the BJP cadre may have chafed, but outwardly, the alliance held.

Ajit Pawar’s first real test came swiftly. In Baramati, a traditional stronghold of the Pawars, his wife, Sunetra Pawar, took on Supriya Sule - Sharad Pawar’s daughter and heir-apparent - in a high-stakes electoral duel. It was a family feud writ large on the electoral map. The result was an early blow to Ajit’s ambitions. Sunetra Pawar lost. The octogenarian Sharad Pawar, campaigning with characteristic grit, managed to patch-up old rivalries while evoking nostalgia for his legacy.

Even Ajit Pawar’s supporters noted the uncomfortable truth that traditional BJP voters refused to vote for the NCP symbol, now representing Ajit’s faction. But if the Lok Sabha elections were a stumble, the state assembly elections soon after brought redemption. While the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) relied on the momentum of their general election gains, the ruling Mahayuti had learned its lessons. It retooled its campaign with welfare schemes such as the Ladki Bahin Yojana for women and pension incentives for the elderly. The result was a decisive defeat for the opposition and a political resurgence for Ajit Pawar.

The numbers told their own story. Forty-one MLAs from his faction made it to the assembly, cementing his grip. Ajit retained Baramati in the state polls and was re-appointed Deputy CM and Finance Minister. Recently, in a cooperative sugar factory election in Malegaon, a prestige battle in the Baramati region, he triumphed over a panel backed by Sharad Pawar in a further proof of his growing regional dominance.

Yet the family feud that came to a head in 2023 has a longer history. Tensions between uncle and nephew have simmered for nearly two decades. In 2004, when the Congress-NCP coalition returned to power in Maharashtra, the NCP had more MLAs than its ally. Naturally, party workers assumed the Chief Minister’s post would go to Ajit Pawar. But Sharad Pawar gave it up without a fight, declining even to stake a claim. Political observers speculated that the patriarch was paving the way for Supriya Sule, his daughter, as the future party chief. Ajit, for his part, said nothing publicly. But his camp smouldered.

That same year, Ajit’s uneasy relationship with Pune’s then-Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi came to a boil. Kalmadi openly complained of Ajit’s hostility, and attempts at reconciliation failed. In 2009, when Kalmadi was again nominated by Congress for the Pune seat, Sharad Pawar personally campaigned for him. Ajit and his faction, by contrast, stayed away or worked at cross purposes. Kalmadi still won, but the incident publicly exposed the internal rift.

Whispers of a split within the NCP grew louder. A sub-group within the party began gravitating towards Ajit Pawar, laying the groundwork for the eventual schism.

By 2014, the Congress-NCP alliance was reeling from successive defeats. In 2019, Sharad Pawar made a bold, if desperate, manoeuvre by elevating Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena to the Chief Ministership. The MVA government lasted less than three years. Throughout, Ajit Pawar kept his lines open with Devendra Fadnavis. Their infamous “early morning oath-taking” in 2019, when they briefly formed a government before it was overturned, is now political lore. Detractors saw betrayal. Supporters saw pragmatism. Either way, Ajit Pawar remained in power.

His appeal is not merely transactional. Within the administration, he has long gained a reputation for efficiency, punctuality and no-nonsense governance. Bureaucrats and party workers alike admire his work ethic. His base has widened. When he finally broke with his uncle in 2023, forty MLAs and hundreds of local leaders followed. That momentum has not abated.

Yet building a party is different from managing one. Ajit Pawar may have inherited a faction, but he must now construct an independent political edifice. Time is not on his side. At 65, he faces the task of entrenching his leadership across Maharashtra’s sprawling political geography. The upcoming local body elections offer a crucial opportunity to institutionalise his presence, especially in rural regions where Sharad Pawar’s influence still lingers.

Complicating matters is the ambiguous legacy of Sharad Pawar himself. A polarising figure, he has both critics and acolytes. His Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar brand of social justice politics gave the NCP a unique identity distinct from both Congress secularism and BJP’s Hindutva. Ajit Pawar, while distancing himself from this ideological framework, continues to benefit from the Pawar surname. Whether that benefit will endure as he tries to forge a distinct identity remains to be seen.

Supriya Sule’s political journey has added another layer of complexity. While Ajit was building his base in Maharashtra, Supriya returned to India post-marriage and entered the Rajya Sabha in 2006. Many saw a dual-track succession plan emerging: Sule in Delhi, Ajit in Mumbai. But political fortunes changed. The UPA collapsed. The NCP lost both national relevance and state control. What began as parallel tracks turned into competing claims.

The tipping point came when Sharad Pawar, in a brief moment of theatricality, offered to resign as NCP president in 2023. A battle of succession broke out. Would the reins go to his daughter or his nephew? The answer came not in a formal announcement, but in Ajit’s defection to the Mahayuti. Sharad Pawar retracted his resignation. Ajit Pawar crossed the Rubicon.

His gamble was characteristically bold. But he faces a greater challenge of longevity. He is no longer just Sharad Pawar’s nephew but Sharad Pawar’s rival. And unlike his uncle, he must build a party in the twilight of his political life, not its dawn.

Still, Ajit Pawar is nothing if not strategic. He understands that even as he tries to break free from Sharad Pawar’s ideological framework, he still trades on the family name. The Pawar halo continues to help, especially among older voters and in strongholds like Baramati. The question is whether he can convert that legacy into an independent mandate.

Much will depend on how he performs in the upcoming municipal and zilla parishad elections. These local bodies are the oxygen of Maharashtra politics. If he captures them, he may no longer need the shadow of the patriarch to thrive. If he fails, the past he is trying to escape will loom larger still.

For the first time in decades, Maharashtra’s biggest political battle is not just between parties but between namesakes. One Pawar has already made history. The other now wants to rewrite it.