Baramati goes to polls on April 23rd. How is one by election going to play out on Maharashtra’s political battlefield? How will Baramati, the stronghold of the Pawars, impact the regional equations, political dynamics, and the family relations at a time when Ajit Pawar is no more? We decode why Baramati is the litmus test for not just the ruling and the opposition alliances of Maha Yuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi, but also the evolving political dynamics within the Pawar family. This is a family saga which is intricately linked to Maharashtra’s political equations.
Door-to-door campaigning, naka sabhas, intimate outreach programs—Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar has been stationed in Baramati for the last several days campaigning for the Baramati bypolls. What makes it easier for her during her maiden time is the lack of any meaningful opposition. With the Pawar family refusing to give a candidate against her to respect Ajit Pawar’s memory. These bypolls have been necessitated by the sudden demise of her husband, Ajit Pawar, in an air crash in Baramati on 28th January this year.
Let us first try and understand the background. Ajit Pawar had taken on NCP’s mantle from uncle Sharad Pawar till he split ways in 2023, causing political tremors in Maharashtra. The move changed political equations even as Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP to become the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, taking with him majority of the party. He earned the distinction of being Maharashtra’s longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister.
While uncle Sharad Pawar and cousin Supriya Sule continue to lead NCPSP, which stands with the India block, Ajit Pawar’s party sits in alliance with the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena as a part of the Maha Yuti alliance. In that sense, the sudden demise of Ajit Pawar this year was seen as the collapse of a strong pillar in the tripolar alliance in the state.
His party appealed to Muslims and Marathas, bringing in a secular dividend from the saffron party from the sugar-rich western belt of Maharashtra. The votes which otherwise went to the Congress could be garnered by Ajit Pawar’s party for the BJP, and this trump card catapulted his significance in the alliance.
But the base of Ajit Pawar’s political career was Baramati, a constituency the Pawar family has nurtured for over six decades now. After Sharad Pawar won the Vidhan Sabha elections for six times since 1967, leading to his path for the Chief Ministerial position, he later moved on to national politics. Nephew Ajit Pawar took over from him in 1991, winning Baramati Vidhan Sabha constituency for eight times in a row with record margins ranging from 89,000 to 1.6 lakh votes.
His demise has left behind a political vacuum. It is a vacuum not just in state politics, but also in the Pawar family for the inheritance of the political legacy. But what’s the way ahead?
Now, among the young generation of the Pawars are Yogendra, Jay, Parth, and Rohit. Jay and Parth Pawar are the sons of Ajit Pawar. Rohit and Yogendra are Ajit Pawar’s nephews. Of them, Rohit Pawar is already an MLA who’s likely to have aspirations to move base from his current constituency of Karjat Jamkhed to a safer constituency of Baramati, known as a haven for the Pawars. He is the only Pawar family member from NCPSP to have campaigned in Baramati for these bypolls, taking objections to the BJP’s efforts to build inroads into this constituency.
Sons Parth and Jay Pawar have been at the forefront of the campaign. Parth was recently sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member. Son Jay Pawar has been seen making emotional appeals to Baramatikars. Yogendra Pawar had fought against uncle Ajit Pawar in the last assembly elections, getting defeated by a massive margin. But that has not stopped him from grooming himself for a future political role.
This is the Pawar family. But what about the political aspirations of the alliance partners now?
NCPSP has accused that the BJP has already started making inroads in Baramati. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a joint rally for Sunetra Pawar on the last day of political campaign on Tuesday. The Pawar family is unhappy with the posters and hoardings of the BJP leaders along with Ajit Pawar in Baramati. It feels threatened that a bastion which was so aggressively guarded by the Pawar family that no other political presence was seen has been breached.
The divide between Ajit Pawar’s family and Sharad Pawar’s family is not hidden either. Both Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar were seen as two strong poles holding each party together. It remains to be seen if the talks of reunification of the two NCPs, which halted with Ajit Pawar’s death, will regain momentum or if Sunetra Pawar will continue to hold BJP’s hand.
The BJP itself is in a wait-and-watch mode, seeing the political performance of Sunetra Pawar. If the party withers, the legislators might jump the ship. While the path of victory during the current bypolls seems to be set for Sunetra Pawar, the challenges in front of her will only increase.
Who will inherit the legacy of Ajit Pawar and who will Baramati accept hereafter is something that will define not just this one constituency, but also the political alliances and the path of the Pawars’ scions.
