Politician Sharad Pawar quits as NCP chief, then agrees to 'rethink'

Veteran politician Sharad Pawar shocked Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers on Tuesday afternoon, saying it was time he stepped down as president of the party that he founded almost 24 years ago.

If Pawar intended to spark a show of loyalty from party workers, the move had the desired effect. Party MLAs threatened to quit the Maharashtra assembly, other party functionaries resigned from their party posts, and senior leaders, including MLA Jayant Patil, broke down when Pawar read out his decision at a function in Mumbai to release his updated autobiography. 

By evening, the 83-year-old leader sought a few days to “rethink” after daughter Supriya Sule, nephew Ajit Pawar, and other senior leaders met him and suggested that he remain the president and appoint a working president under him. According to Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar said he would rethink only if workers, who had been protesting, go home and resignations cease.  

Observers of Maharashtra politics, such as journalist Nikhil Wagle, termed Pawar's resignation a "masterstroke" that should quell the putative move by Ajit, who runs the party organisation, to align with the BJP since the sympathy of party workers and MLAs was now with his uncle. However, a party source rejected this speculation, arguing that Ajit has already ruled out going with the BJP and that only the MVA alliance can offer him the CM's post.

Senior journalist Anant Bagaitkar, who has tracked Pawar's career closely for decades, said Pawar's threat to resign is with an eye on the upcoming electoral challenges -- not just the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but also the Maharashtra Assembly polls. “Campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls will start in earnest in six months, and the challenge is to keep party workers and leaders disciplined, united and galvanised,” he said. The term of the Maharashtra Assembly expires at the end of 2024. But the NCP leadership believes the state polls could take place, considering the precarious state of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government, simultaneously with the Lok Sabha. 

Pawar's move comes on the heels of two key developments. Last month, the Election Commission stripped the NCP of its status as a 'national party'. However, it was notable, Bagaitkar said, that Pawar's announcement came a day after the Maharashtra agricultural produce marketing committees' (APMCs) election results, polling for which was held on April 28. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the NCP, Congress and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, won 76 of 131 bodies, while the ruling alliance bagged 31 committees. The APMC results indicate the ruling coalition is becoming unpopular and would struggle to retain its Lok Sabha and Assembly seats if the electoral battle remains focused on local issues. It would prefer to contest on the back of Narendra Modi's charisma, he said.

At the book launch, Pawar underlined the importance of May 1 in his life. He said May 1, 1960, was not only the day the Maharashtra state came into existence but also that of his joining public life, and it was time to “step back” after 63 years. But Tuesday's episode is reminiscent of another day in May, nearly a quarter-century back in Pawar's life. 

At the Congress Working Committee meeting of May 15, 1999, Pawar flagged the issue of Sonia Gandhi's “foreign origin”. She resigned as the Congress president triggering a massive show of loyalty. In his autobiography, On My Terms, Pawar wrote that “the hysterical exhibition of loyalty and support to 10 Janpath continued for a full week”, and the police advised him not to venture near the party office lest irate Congress workers physically assault him. Sonia Gandhi reconsidered her resignation. The Congress suspended Pawar and his colleagues, and he founded the NCP on June 10, 1999.