Ajit Pawar, who tried to pull off a coup, is back as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister – india news

Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who is also the nephew of party chief Sharad Pawar, took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Monday.

This is Pawar’s fourth tenure as Deputy Chief Minister, including the last short-lived stint of just three days when in an overnight coup, he took oath along with Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister on November 23.

With Pawar, a six-term MLA, assuming the second-in-command position in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government led by Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, it is now clear that his “rebellion” of joining Fadnavis-government clandestinely has been forgiven by his uncle.

Pawar first took over as the Deputy CM of Maharashtra in November 2010 after flexing his muscles within the party organization and thwarting his uncle’s plan to again give senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal this post. Pawar, in a surprise move, resigned in September 2012 as the allegations against him in the irrigation scam were flying thick and fast. He joined the government back as Deputy CM within three months after he orchestrated a clean chit for himself through a white paper on irrigation prepared by his own government.

This year too, just before joining hands with Fadnavis, Pawar, seen as a mercurial and controversial politician, had resigned as an MLA ahead of the elections and was incommunicado for a while, apprently upset with his party for not defending him in the Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scam. Pawar had forced his uncle to give his son Parth candidature for Lok Sabha polls. But Parth’s defeat with a big margin had put Ajit Pawar on the backfoot.

His elevation as Deputy CM is in many ways a comeback for this embattled politician.

Recently, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) gave Pawar a clean chit in the irrigation scam in Vidarbha. The affidavit absolving Pawar of any responsibility in the multi-crore scam was filed by the ACB in the Nagpur High Court a day after the Pawar-Fadnavis government collapsed on November 26. However, the court has not yet ratified this clean chit. Pawar also continues to be named as an accused in a complaint filed by the Economic Offences Wing and Enforcement Directorate in Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scam.

Despite the controversies, Pawar enjoys a big following among NCP legislators as well as a section in the bureaucracy for ‘quick decision making’. He brings with him over 15 years of administrative experience.

“Ajit dada is quick decision maker. He doesn’t like to keep any files or decisions pending. From helping fund elections for party MLAs to resolving administrative issues in our constituencies, he will be the person to go to in this government to get things done,” said a three-term NCP MLA, who did not want to be named.

A former Congress minister, who worked with Pawar as a junior minister in the earlier government, said, “He was the most hard working minister in the government. He used to start work in Mantralaya at 7 am in the morning. So, while he has his flaws, there is little doubt that he will now take over this government and drive all the administrative decisions.”

“With Ajit Pawar taking over as DCM there is now little doubt over who is in charge of the NCP in the state. Despite his rebellion, his uncle has had to concede him this post given that he enjoys substantial following within the party,” said Professor Nitin Birmal, political analyst based in Pune.