Pune: As the chaos of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections has somewhat deflated, now the district will be caught up in Pune Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls for the next few weeks. With this, now Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has “taken over” both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), as Pawar took key meetings in the city with the newly elected corporators in PMC and PCMC and interviews of aspirants for ZP and Samiti polls.
Chairing a meeting of elected corporators on Monday night, Ajit Pawar reportedly gave them strict instructions, saying, “Now that you have been elected, be aggressive. Open your mouth to speak against wrongdoings and corruption.”
While this development is surprising in itself, it must be taken into account that almost every 27 of the elected corporators from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in PMC and 37 corporators from the party in PCMC were present during this meeting. Notably, three corporators from NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP), who won in Pune, also joined this meeting, and the state’s deputy chief minister also “administered” them. NCP-SP couldn’t open their account in PCMC elections despite fielding over 10 candidates who were contesting under their symbol.
After the infamous NCP split in 2023, where Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and took the majority of the NCP to Mahayuti to become the state’s deputy chief minister, two major elections happened in which both NCPs went head-to-head. Although the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had a majority in the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP had a lacklustre run, as only one MP was elected out of the four who contested. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar’s NCP had contested 10 seats and won eight out of them.
Tables turned in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections as Mahayuti got a dominant majority as they won 235 seats out of 288 total seats. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP dominated, winning 41 seats out of the 59 they contested. NCP-SP had a very poor run, as they contested over 80 seats but won in only 10 of them.
After two elections marked by intense animosity, verbal spats, and even physical altercations at a few places, the two parties reunited after it was announced that the BJP and NCP would have a “friendly fight” in the PMC and PCMC polls. The uncle–nephew duo came together at the district level to take on the BJP but still suffered a defeat, with the BJP winning comfortably. Now, this momentum is continuing in full swing for the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls as well.
Speaking about this, Ajit Pawar has reiterated that the local polls alliance structure is decided by local leaders and grassroots workers. Meanwhile, speaking about the same in Pune on Sunday, NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar had clarified that in some tehsils there is an alliance, and in some tehsils there is no alliance.
Direct Leadership by Ajit Pawar
Preparations have now shifted to the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections, and the process of interviewing aspiring candidates has begun. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is personally interviewing candidates from both factions. While officials from the NCP-SP were present during these interviews at Baramati Hostel in Pune, it was reported that the actual task of interviewing was handled by Ajit Pawar himself.
For the upcoming Pune Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections, there is a consensus that candidates from both NCP factions will contest under the ‘Clock’ symbol belonging to Ajit Pawar’s party. Shirur MP Dr Amol Kolhe from NCP-SP also announced that the elections would be fought under the ‘Clock’ symbol. As a result, it is now clear that the ‘Man Blowing Trumpet’ symbol of the NCP-SP faction will not be seen in these upcoming elections. These happenings have sparked discussions in political circles that Ajit Pawar is effectively taking over the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
