Sharad Pawar. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
In a jolt to the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election, more than 20 leaders and office bearers of the NCP from Pimpri-Chinchwad joined the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar on July 17.
Chief among those switching sides was NCP leader Ajit Gavhane, the party’s Pimpri-Chinchwad president who was being touted as a dynamic face of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the cash-rich township ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election.
After the Baramati Assembly segment which Ajit Pawar has held continuously since 1991 for a record seven terms, the township of Pimpri-Chinchwad and the cash-rich Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has long been the nerve-centre of the Deputy CM’s politics.
Mr. Gavhane, who submitted his resignation to NCP State chief Sunil Tatkare on July 16, is now being projected as a possible candidate of the NCP (SP) from the Bhosari Assembly segment, currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahesh Landge.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Gavhane along with more than 20 former corporators and office bearers of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) joined the NCP (SP) in Sharad Pawar’s presence in Pune.
Yet, the move was neither surprising nor wholly unexpected as Mr. Gavhane, along with ex-Bhosari MLA Vilas Lande – another Ajit Pawar faction leader who is said to disgruntled with Ajit, had met with Mr. Sharad Pawar last month itself along with other PCMC leaders from the NCP.
“There was a lot of uneasiness after the NCP split last year. While we have equal respect for both Ajit dada and Sharad Pawar saaheb who have both contributed to the development of Pimpri-Chinchwad, there has been a lot of corruption in the PCMC, and particularly Bhosari, ever since the BJP came to power in the civic body,” Mr. Gavhane said.
Ajit Pawar’s grasp over the PCMC appeared to be slipping in 2017 when the BJP, for the first time in the history of the civic body polls, snared the Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body by winning 77 of the 128. One of the reasons for this was because a number of leaders like the late Laxman Jagtap and ex-Mayor Azam Pansare, once Ajit’s trusted lieutenants, had switched colours to join the BJP.
After the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) troika came to power following the 2019 State Assembly election, Ajit Pawar, as Deputy CM in the erstwhile government as well, left no stone unturned to wrest back the PCMC from the BJP.
Now, with Ajit Pawar himself aligned with the BJP in the ruling Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, several local leaders feel uncomfortable with the saffron embrace.
This, coupled with the NCP’s drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha election, has prompted many leaders in the Ajit Pawar group to consider returning back to Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP), which had a remarkable showing in the general election, winning eight of ten Lok Sabha seats it contested on.
