A lost opportunity? Sharad Pawar should have settled the leadership issue in NCP

New Delhi: Last week, Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar was re-elected as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief, a post he has held since forming the party 23 years ago in 1999.

That means 81-year-old Pawar will continue to hold the post for another four years.

Pawar is undoubtedly a shrewd politician who believes in doing the impossible.

His move to bring together the Congress and the Shiv Sena apart from his party to form a coalition government in Maharashtra could genuinely be described as a masterstroke.

He had stunned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which tried to stage a coup in his party by roping in his nephew Ajit Pawar, who for all practical purposes is the number two in the NCP.

Though the coup had then failed, the BJP, two-and-a-half years later, managed to split the Shiv Sena vertically through Thackeray family loyalist Eknath Shinde, who subsequently took over as the chief minister with the BJP's support. Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis agreed to become his deputy.

Sharad Pawar broke ranks with the Congress in 1998 soon after Sonia Gandhi became the Congress president. He along with Tariq Anwar and PA Sangma revolted against Gandhi ostensibly on the issue of her foreign origin. The three were later expelled from the Congress and Sonia Gandhi was forced to come back as the party chief.

Months after forming the NCP in 1999, Sharad Pawar aligned with the Congress only to form a coalition government in Maharashtra. The two parties remained in power in Maharashtra uninterrupted till 2014.

He subsequently became a trusted partner of the Congress and later joined the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre in 2004 and remained a key part of it till 2014.

The political astuteness of the Maratha strongman is evident in his strategy that he did not mind joining hands with the same party that had thrown him out some months ago. Being a part of the ruling coalition in his home state was key to establishing his party across the country and he had no ego hassles in doing so.

In the 2019 assembly elections in Maharashtra, the NCP for the first time overtook the Congress in terms of number of seats. While the NCP bagged 54 seats, the Congress won 44.

That was because Sharad Pawar campaigned extensively and aggressively across the state. A video of him addressing a rally drenched in rain enabled his party to retain its supremacy over its traditional bastion of western Maharashtra.

That said, the recent NCP convention (September 11) in Delhi was an opportunity for him to settle the leadership issue in his party given that a power tussle has already erupted in his family.

Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule is pitted against Ajit Pawar in the succession race. In the third generation, his grandnephew Rohit Pawar is a potential leader while Ajit Pawar's son Parth has not established himself yet.

One reason why Sharad Pawar decided to keep the reins of the NCP with himself for now could be the apprehension that the move could trigger dissent in his party. He is caught in a dilemma whether to opt for his nephew or daughter though there is a visible trust deficit with Ajit Pawar after he tried to join hands with the BJP.

This tussle between Ajit Pawar and Supriya Sule is expected to escalate further if Sharad Pawar does not address the issue in his lifetime, and might even result in a split in his party.

Moreover, the smooth transition could happen if he chooses his successor and installs the person as the party chief. That would also force the senior leaders of his party to fall in line and accept his choice.

But when will he do it is the big question.