Will Maratha strongman agree to be Opposition's presidential candidate?

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar is being approached by some of the Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), to be their candidate for the July 18 presidential elections.

It is well-known that the Maratha strongman has been nursing the ambition of becoming the Prime Minister for a very long time.

Some months ago, political circles were abuzz with speculation that Pawar might be the united opposition's consensus presidential candidate.

Now that buzz has been renewed with Congress president Sonia Gandhi speaking to Pawar and other leaders about the possible candidate.

It is said that Gandhi later conveyed her party's desire to name him the Opposition's candidate through her senior colleague Mallikarjun Kharge.

The 81-year-old old warhorse enjoys a good rapport across the political spectrum. He shares excellent relations with the BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

These close ties almost led the people to believe that he was behind his nephew Ajit Pawar's move to form a government with the BJP in November 2019. In a midnight drama, Ajit Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra along with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as the chief minister.

That was the time when the Shiv Sena had snapped its three-decade-old ties with the BJP over the chief minister's post. Both parties had staked claim to the post.

Ajit Pawar's move was seen as having an endorsement from the NCP boss till he came out to publicly denounce his nephew's action.

But by then rumors had triggered that Ajit Pawar's move had the senior Pawar's blessing given that he had met Prime Minister Modi a few days ago and there was also a talk that the NCP Chief had been offered the President's post in the 2022 elections.

But Pawar vociferously dismissed those rumors and got actively involved in the formation of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition also known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, headed by Uddhav Thackeray.

He also knows it very well that the BJP is unlikely to nominate a non-RSS person to the country's top Constitutional post.

That said, Pawar is equally popular among many non-UPA and non-NDA parties.

If he decides to contest the presidential elections, there are good chances that Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Left parties might support him.

Though the Trinamool Congress (TMC) could propose former union minister and Modi baiter Yashwant Sinha's name, it might eventually settle for Pawar who shares excellent ties with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as well.

If Pawar relents and decides to fight the presidential polls, it will undoubtedly be one of the best contests in recent times.