Sharad Pawar back to drawing board after losing NCP to Ajit, braces for toughest battle at 83

While giving its ruling, the EC asked Pawar-led NCP faction to suggest a list of three preferences for its name for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra. On Wednesday, accepting the faction’s first preference, the EC allotted it the name, “Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar”.

It is another matter that Pawar is the founder of the NCP, with Ajit rebelling against him to cross over to the NDA in July 2023 along with his group of party leaders and legislators.

The question doing the rounds in the state political circles is, will Pawar succeed in reconstituting and revamping his party again.

With his political skills and unrelenting work, Pawar has continued to remain a key figure at the centre-stage of Maharashtra politics for decades. Even his detractors acknowledge his “never say die attitude” and are not willing to write him off. As they track his next moves, a common refrain among them is, “Pawar may be down, but not out yet”.

Pawar is gearing up for one of the toughest battles of his career now. With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, he has barely a couple of months to reinvent his party. He will also have to mount an aggressive statewide outreach to secure public approval for his party’s new identity.

On the EC’s ruling, state NCP chief Jayant Patil said, “Yes, it is a setback. But then we will fight back with greater zeal. We have Sharad Pawar with us. The name Sharad Pawar itself is our identity and party.”

NCP working president Supriya Sule, Pawar’s daughter, said they will challenge the EC’s order in the Supreme Court. The party has started consultations with constitutional and legal experts.

Notwithstanding the legal fight, the immediate task for Pawar is to make his organisation battle-ready for the Lok Sabha polls.

An NCP strategist from the Pawar faction said, “The EC’s order divesting Sharad Pawar-led NCP of title and symbol may generate sympathy among public. This sympathy factor in Pawar’s favour could work to our advantage. And we would bank on it to see that our organisation and electoral base remain intact in Maharashtra.”

In October 2019, Pawar had held a rally at Satara for the Lok Sabha bypoll, during which he got drenched in the rain. The image of a soaked Pawar delivering his speech while defying the rain, which went viral, evoked sympathy for the Maratha stalwart, with NCP candidate Shriniwas Patil winning the election by defeating the BJP’s Udayan Raje Bhosale.

The Satara bypoll was held along with the elections to the 288-member state Assembly. Pawar’s rain speech was believed to have even boosted the NCP’s prospects in the Assembly polls, which won 54 seats, with its ally Congress winning 44. The BJP won 105 seats while its ally Shiv Sena got 56, with their numbers dipping from their previous figures.

Subsequently, the Uddhav-led Sena cut its ties with the BJP and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government along with the NCP and the Congress. Pawar was said to have been a key architect of the MVA alliance, which had stumped the BJP.

NCP insiders point out how Pawar has faced multiple challenges, both political and personal, over the decades.

He had been diagnosed with oral cancer for which he underwent surgery in 2004. Even while undergoing cancer treatment, he never took a break from his political work. He used to address public meetings even during that phase while being on liquid diet.