Doubts of who rules the roost in the state NCP were laid to rest on Thursday with the announcement of Ajit Pawar’s comeback in the state cabinet. While NCP chief Sharad Pawar did not want his nephew to return to the cabinet before the end of the Assembly’s Winter Session, which starts on Monday, the latter prevailed over the former. Interestingly, Mr Ajit Pawar himself gave indications about his induction on Thursday evening when at a party function on Thursday in Navi Mumbai he told reporters that he would be soon joining the government. “I have not taken any decision (on joining the cabinet), but my colleagues, MLAs, cabinet ministers and other party workers have been insisting that I join the government. I will have a talk with the party leadership and then decide,” said Mr Ajit Pawar. Within hours of Mr Ajit Pawar’s statement there was a buzz that he would soon be inducted, The same was confirmed by the governor’s office. Sources from the NCP said that Mr Sharad Pawar had told party leaders that a decision on Mr Ajit Pawar’s re-induction will not be taken immediately. He had also reprimanded NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik, who on Friday gave a clean chit to Mr Ajit Pawar in the irrigation scam and publicly spoke about his return to the state cabinet. “The Opposition is going to raise the issue of the irrigation scam and white-paper in the Winter Session. Mr Sharad Pawar wanted his nephew to answer the Opposition’s charges as an MLA. But there was a growing pressure from the NCP MLAs for Ajit’s induction in the Cabinet before the Assembly session starts,” a senior NCP leader said. According to sources, out of 62 NCP MLAs, nearly 48 MLAs support Mr Ajit Pawar as their leader. A senior leader from the state Congress said that even though NCP leaders consider Sharad Pawar as their senior most leader, it is Ajit who has controls the party in the state. The Congress leader said, “Sharad Pawar has concentrated on Delhi, while all party office bearers and MLAs are decided by Mr Ajit Pawar. There have been instances in the past that indicated that even senior Pawar cannot take any decision against Ajit’s wishes. One such example was when Ajit replaced a senior leader like Chhagan Bhujbal as deputy chief minister. NCP had no reason to replace Mr Bhujbal, but Ajit’s supporters carried out a show of strength in the NCP legislative party meeting and even senior Pawar had to give in to their demand.”
