Maharashtra polls: There won’t be a hung Assembly, I am sure of that, Ajit Pawar tells HT
NCP chief Ajit Pawar is contesting for his eighth MLA term against his nephew, amid family tensions and a Supreme Court ruling on party identity
Barely five months after a bruising electoral battle in Baramati in the Lok Sabha, NCP (AP) chief Ajit Pawar, 65, is back in his pocket borough. This time he himself is contesting for an eighth term as MLA and is pitted against another family member, his nephew Yugendra Pawar who is contesting from NCP (SP). A few hours before he sat down with Faisal Malik, the Supreme Court barred his party from using any photographs of Sharad Pawar and asked Ajit Pawar to “find his own identity.” In this interview, he speaks of family tensions and why he thinks the Mahayuti will return to power. Edited excerpts…
It’s a little over a year since you split the party. Can you speak about what the tipping point was?
First of all, I did not leave the party. All the MLAs submitted a letter to (Sharad) Pawarsaheb asking for his permission to join the government as he was the party chief (in mid-2023). He granted his permission and appointed a three-member committee comprising Praful Patel, Jayant Patil and me for negotiations but that did not materialize. The MLAs were, however, of the view that they needed to be in the government to complete the pending development works as most of the time of the MVA government had been wasted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and technically we got only a year to work as the MVA government. Finally, a decision was unanimously taken (by the MLAs) to join the government.
Was Sharad Pawar also part of the negotiations with the BJP-Sena government?
No, because he had already formed a three-member committee.
You stand accused of taking over NCP’s name and symbol.
I have not done anything of the sort. It was a decision pronounced by the Maharashtra Assembly speaker and the Election Commission of India.
You have admitted that fielding your wife Sunetra Pawar against Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha election was a mistake. Supriya has since said that she’s not sure why you admitted your mistake publicly. Was it for political reasons or were you worried about a divide in the family?
Both. That decision divided family which is a concern. Also, people did not like it.
The voters of Baramati are like my family and they have been electing me for the last 33 years (as MLA). They did not like that there was an electoral fight in the family as it became clear from the results. I realized mistake and admitted it.
And now once again there is a contest in the family, you are pitted against your nephew Yugendra. How difficult will that contest be?
Ask the people and you will come to know who will win the polls. One has to show voters what has been done in the last five years and what is the vision for the next five years.
But it’s not just Yugendra, his father and your brother Shrinivas too has been critical of you.
That’s something only he can explain. We were close all these years, we celebrated festivals together, went on trips together. Only he can say what has come over him.
Moving away from the personal, what has changed for the Mahayuti since the poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls?
The opposition’s fake narrative about the government changing the constitution, scrapping of the reservation quota and turning the country into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ has been debunked. At the same time, the central government lifted the ban on onion export, farmers have started getting proper prices for their produce. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) allowed the people to return to India from other countries are among some of the things that are working. We in the Mahayuti are aiming for a strong showing, winning over 175 seats.
Your government has set a precedent by giving direct cash to women under the Ladki Bahin Yojana. Will that be a factor?
Women who come from poor backgrounds, who are taking care of their families working the entire day are at the centre of this scheme. But it’s not the only scheme, we have also rolled out other schemes power bill waiver for 44 lakh farmers, stipend up to ₹10,000 for unemployed youths etc..
Now, the Mahayuti has promised to increase the Ladki Bahin outlay from ₹1,500 to ₹2,100 for each woman. Will this not impact the fiscal health of the state?
Our new schemes cost the state ₹75,000 crore annually. Our budget is ₹6.5 lakh crore, of which ₹3 lakh crore is spent on salaries, pensions, and loan repayments. The remaining ₹3.5 lakh crore goes toward development. The opposition’s promises of ₹3,000 per month to each woman and other promises will cost the state an additional ₹3 lakh crore per year, but they haven’t provided clarity on how they plan to fund this.
Supriya Sule recently called you out for saying Devendra Fadnavis when he was chief minister had signed the inquiry order against you in the irrigation scam and yet you joined hands with BJP.
No comments
Is there any possibility of you and Sharad Pawar reuniting politically?
I only ever think about the present. My priority at present is to win the most number seats in the Assembly polls.
What if the election throws up a hung Assembly?
There won’t be a hung house, and I am sure about that.
Is there any possibility of new political realignment post-Assembly elections? Nawab Malik has claimed that Sharad Pawar is in touch with Eknath Shinde.
I have heard that but I don’t see any such possibility.
Despite all the objections raised by the BJP, you continued to back Nawab Malik. Why is that?
People can face allegations but it is very wrong to treat them as guilty until they are not convicted by a court of law.
Do you count yourself in the race for the chief minister’s position?
I have not thought about it. We are striving to get 175 plus seats as an alliance. After that, all the MLAs will sit together and take a decision following democratic process.
Do you have any other interests apart from politics?
I like to hear Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar songs, I like things around me to be orderly, tidy and clean. Also, wearing good clothes and cars interest me.