NCP divided on caste lines

Mumbai: The caste equation has come to fore once again in the Ajit Pawar led NCP. The ‘fall and rise’ formula is all set to work into the party organisation. Nevertheless, after a span of one month, the NCP leadership made a full-fledged attempt to mollify the senior leader and other backward class (OBC) face of the party Chhagan Bhujbal, who is sulking. Bhujbal was marginalised and totally ignored by NCP leadership for the last one month. First, he was not inducted into the state cabinet and later the bigwigs in the party turned their back towards the senior leader. But suddenly changing its stance NCP bosses began placating the disgruntled leader.

Last week Bhujbal suddenly received a call from state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare. He requested the 77-year-old leader to attend the party’s two-day conclave in Shirdi and address one of the sessions. This was the first step taken by the NCP to pacify Bhujbal, who has been upset for keeping him at bay during cabinet expansion last month. Tatkare’s sudden initiative raised many eyebrows. The development assumes significance in the backdrop of another OBC leader from the party, Dhananjay Munde, facing heat over his close links with Walmik Karad, an accused in an extortion case related to the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, a village sarpanch in the Beed district. The trusted aid of party chief Ajit Pawar and minister in the state cabinet has created a major political controversy. The NCP leadership is under pressure to sack Munde, who holds the food and civil supplies portfolio.

Murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed, has once again drawn fault lines between the Marathas and the OBCs in the state and turned out to be a springboard for Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil’s reappearance in the mainstream political narrative in Maharashtra. Deshmukh was a Maratha, and all the suspects in his murder case including Dhananjay Munde’s close associate Walmik Karad—belong to the Vanjari community, the dominant group among the OBCs in Beed. On the other hand, Chhagan Bhujbal who has remained miffed with the party since he was dropped as a minister, has thrown his weight behind Munde, saying that the demands for his resignation are “premature and unwarranted”.

NCP leadership was upset with Bhujbal for several reasons, including being pressured to nominate his son Pankaj Bhujbal to the legislative council in October, the rebellion by his nephew Sameer Bhujbal during the assembly polls in November last year, and his statement about “looking for options” after he was left out of the cabinet last month. Bhujbal’s statements against the party leadership on being left out of the state cabinet and his claim that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was keen to induct him but backtracked due to opposition from Ajit Pawar further angered the party leadership. In the last week of December, Bhujbal even met Fadnavis with his nephew and claimed he had a detailed discussion with the chief minister regarding important social and political issues.

Bhujbal, among the senior-most leaders in the undivided NCP, chose to side with Ajit Pawar during the party split in 2023 despite considering party founder Sharad Pawar his political mentor. He was the food and civil supplies minister in the previous Mahayuti government, while his son was an MLC, and his nephew was NCP’s Mumbai president. Bhujbal has been sulking after not being made a minister in the first expansion of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti 2.0 government. The NCP got 10 berths in the ministerial council, but the party chose to ignore one of its most senior leaders and OBC face.

As the political situation in the state drastically changed in the last one month, sensing the danger NCP leadership took a backseat and started appeasing Bhujbal. Party has realised that these Maratha-OBC fault lines are more political than social. As the elections to the various civic bodies are due shortly, the party cannot afford the wrath of OBCs.

Persons with bad public image have no place in NCP: Ajit Pawar

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Sunday that any person with a bad public image has no place in the Nationalist Congress Party headed by him.

Pawar said those who do wrong will be expelled from the party.

Pawar, who rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar to stake claim to the NCP in 2023, said the future belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party.

"The NCP worker base should be created in villages and every nook and corner. Everyone should work in coordination," he said in his valedictory address at the NCP convention in Shirdi.

"Our responsibility increased after the assembly elections. Those interested in contesting the upcoming local bodies polls should choose responsible workers to ensure votes from a cluster of 25 houses. If four votes are cast (for NCP) from each of the 25 houses, we will get 100 votes," Pawar said.

"A person with a bad image in the public mind has no place in the party. There should be no misconduct. Those who do wrong will be expelled," he said.

Pawar's remarks come against the backdrop of the Opposition's criticism of NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde over the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case.

He announced the formation of medical assistance and "assurances implementation" cells.

I am Arjun, not Abhimanyu: Dhananjay Munde

Embattled Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde on Sunday fell back on the Mahabharata to claim he cannot be cornered like Abhimanyu as he was ace archer Arjun.

Munde is under attack from the opposition as well the ruling Mahayuti leaders in connection with the December 9 abduction and murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.

Incidentally, Munde, NCP MLA from Parli, was not included in the list of guardian ministers announced by the state government on Saturday night, with his home district Beed being given to his party chief and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

Speaking at the NCP conclave in Shirdi in Ahilyanagar, Munde slammed some leaders for deliberately targeting him in the sarpanch murder-extortion case.

He was saddened that these leaders included those from the ruling alliance, Munde said. The Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP.

"No matter what, it will be of no use to corner me like Abhimanyu. Because I am not Abhimanyu, I am Arjun. Some leaders from the party (NCP) too are providing false information to Ajitdada, who is standing by me in these difficult times," Munde asserted.

In the Mahabharata, Abhimanyu was killed after his opponents managed to create a "chakravyuh", an elaborate battle formation comprising of multiple circles.

Speaking at the conclave, Munde said the killing of Deshmukh was extremely unfortunate and asserted he had been demanding since then that the culprits be hanged. Munde thanked Pawar for his support and said the latter was being labelled a villain for this.

Munde said he had undertaken several campaigns against the then BJP-Shiv Sena government (of Devendra Fadnavis) between 2014 and 2019.

"Ahead of the oath-taking in November 2019, I had asked Ajitdada to not join as deputy chief minister. He went ahead but I bore the punishment," Munde claimed.

In November 2019, in a surprise move, Pawar joined hands with Fadnavis to form government, which last for just 80 hours. Pawar went back to the NCP, which teamed up with the Congress and (undivided) Shiv Sena to form the MVA dispensation under Uddhav Thackeray.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign, Munde said he was told not to go to Baramati to campaign for NCP candidate Sunetra Pawar as it would be a headache for Ajit Pawar. "I still went ahead to campaign (in Baramati). I campaigned for the party candidate in Thane and this is the reason why Thane leaders are coming to Beed to target me," he said in an apparent reference to NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad.