Succumbing to pressure from a majority of party legislators, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today named Maratha leader and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, as the new deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, in place of Chhagan Bhujbal.
Of the 62 party legislators and 12 independents supporting NCP, over 95 per cent made a strong demand for Ajit Pawar as the NCP legislature party leader and the deputy chief minister. This forced NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to eat his own words that his party would not make any change in its leadership even if the Congress party does it. NCP shares the ruling alliance in the state with the Congress. At the NCP legislature party meeting, Bhujbal made a spirited speech on the one-year rule of the Congress-NCP combine and also about his role as the NCP legislature party leader and deputy chief minister.
Keeping aside the party tradition of authorising the party high command to chose a new leader, Bhujbal proposed the name of Ajit Pawar as the new legislature party leader and the deputy chief minister and it was recommended by Home Minister R R Patil and other ministers and leaders of the party.
Bhujbal said he recommended Ajit Pawar's name as he had been one of the founding members of NCP. “I decided to withdraw as I had worked twice as the deputy chief minister and I thought it was a time to give a chance to a young and dynamic leader like Ajit,” he said.
Ajit Pawar's appointment is a major signal to the Congress party that chief minister-elect Prithviraj Chavan would have to take the NCP along for smooth functioning of the coalition government, unlike outgoing chief minister Ashok Chavan whose anti-NCP stand had created tensions between the two ruling partners.The party meeting started an hour late, as party observers Praful Patel, D P Tripathi, Govindrao Adik and Tariq Anwar were busy convincing Bhujbal to withdraw from the post to pave way for Ajit.
An NCP minister told Business Standard: “Bhujbal was quite reluctant to step down on the grounds that it would send a wrong signal in the party and to the masses especially the backward classes. Bhujbal also argued that he was not involved in the Adarsh housing scam, as he had not recommended anybody for the allotment of a flat. However, he was later told not to further stretch in the larger interest of the party and support Ajit Pawar’s appointment as his successor.” The minister also indicated that Bhujbal would be inducted in the ministry and at a proper time might be included in national politics.
However, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said there was no question of imposition of any leader. “Bhujbal himself recommended the name of Ajit Pawar. Due to this, there was no need to personally talk to a legislator and thus we made the announcement of Ajit Pawar as the new NCP legislature party leader,” he added.
