PAWAR OUTAGE

Where does the elevation of Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as NCP's working presidents leave Ajit Pawar? Some think it will thwart his ambition. Others say he remains the one NCP leader with consummate clout on the ground

- Dhaval Kulkarni

The power struggle within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took a significant turn on June 10 when party supremo Sharad Pawar announced the appointment of his daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule and former Union minister Praful Patel as the working presidents of the party. With Sule thus anointed as her father’s political heir, all eyes are on her mercurial cousin and Maharashtra leader of opposition Ajit Pawar. Ajit refused to comment immediately after his cousin’s appointment as the effective No. 2 in the NCP. He later denied that he was upset. “I am very content,” he told the media. “This is unnecessary (speculation).” Ajit also tweeted in support of the newly-appointed functionaries.

He would have seen it coming. Just when a group in the party, which owed its allegiance to him, was rumoured to be eager to break ranks with the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and join hands with the BJP, Pawar Sr, in a surprise move, announced on May 2 that he will be stepping down as the national president of the party. The action was seen as one aimed to galvanise the party rank and file and show his nephew his place. The gambit succeeded—amid cries of dismay, NCP functionaries, cadre and even national leaders across party lines called on the NCP patriarch and asked him to reconsider his move. Relenting, Pawar withdrew his decision on May 5, emerging the stronger from the churn.

Though Ajit himself denied that he was seeking any truck with the BJP, a group of NCP leaders who are being probed by central investigation agencies on various charges, were allegedly anxious that they jump ship. Senior BJP leader and Union minister Narayan Rane had said that Ajit was on the