Is Pawar undone by his politics or his rivals?

Sharad Pawar has always been a strongman of the Marathas and one of the tallest leaders of Maharashtra, evoking strong loyalty among his men, awe and admiration for his brand of leadership across the spectrum--even as a few critics have wondered the secret of his abilities and financial clout.

However, the last few days have seen trying times for him due to the difficulties faced by his close aides and ministers of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) following action by the Central agencies on cases relating to disproportionate assets, benami acquisitions amid allegations of money laundering.

At least 14 Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders in Maharashtra are being investigated by these central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) department and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Many of these leaders are very close to Pawar. Two of these leaders, Nawab Mallik and  Anil Deshmukh, were also arrested by the ED.

Most of the probes were initiated after the NCP, Shiv Sena and the Congress formed a coalition of diametrically opposite parties after the 2019 elections, outsmarting the BJP. That's because the results threw up a tally that saw the BJP's pre-poll ally Sena insisting on the chief minister's post and later walking out of its three-decade-old alliance with the BJP.

Prior to this development, Pawar and the BJP apparently tried to work out an understanding between them. Later the BJP tried unsuccessfully to break the NCP with the help of Ajit Pawar. However, the Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government lasted only for 80 hours after an early morning swearing-in at Raj Bhavan because Ajit Pawar could not get enough NCP MLAs to defy Sharad Pawar and cross over to back the BJP.

The episode left severe heartburn among Central and Maharashtra BJP leaders because the Sena had the last laugh. Uddhav Thackeray became CM, ending his father's policy of staying directly out of office and wielding remote control.

Since then, the BJP has not hesitated to take pot shots at the regime even as Uddhav Thackeray has battled his personal health issues and the Covid fallout in his tenure.

Cut to 2022, the unending contradictions within the MVA and uneasiness in the triangular relationship involving the Sena, NCP and the Congress have added to troubles of Pawar.

Uddhav Thackeray's style of functioning has also led to questions being asked by NCP and Congress leaders and the behaviour of the coalition partners have also raised the hackles of Sena leaders.

On April 8, a group of striking state transport employees staged a sudden protest outside Sharad Pawar's house. In videos that surfaced online, the protestors were seen ferociously protesting by throwing rocks and slippers inside his south Mumbai residence "Silver Oak."

As Pawar remained inside his house, his daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule tried to reason with the protesters who numbered over a hundred.

For the first time, Pawar stood directly accused by a mob of doing nothing for the state transport workers who have been in a protest since November 2021.

As expected, the episode caused a tremor in the coalition with Uddhav Thackeray left red-faced and Ajit Pawar claiming that there was an intelligence failure. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis too pointed out serious lapses of the Mumbai Police demanding a probe. Meanwhile, Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil (a NCP nominee) ordered transfers of police officers and the arrest of more than 100 men.

As the salaries of 90,000 employees were frozen for 3 months during the pandemic, the main demand of the agitators is that the cash-strapped transport corporation be completely taken over by the state government. Nearly 250 bus depots in the state have been shut since the agitation, causing disruption in public transport. These protestors have also been 'mourning' the deaths of 120 of their colleagues, who have died due to money-related stress.

Though State transport minister Anil Parab on November 25 announced  a 41% pay hike to the employees,  the government had to fire over 12,000 staffers. The MSRTC took to the High Court on this matter and the HC directed the staffers to get back to work from April 22. 

Coincidentally, the "attack" on Pawar's residence came two days after Pawar sparked a big political buzz by calling on Narendra Modi at the Prime Minister's Office in Parliament for about 25 minutes.

As he made it clear, it was primarily to convey his "concerns" over the ED's action against NCP leaders as well as Sena MP Sanjay Raut.

Definitely, it was  a flashback to the interaction Pawar had with Modi way back in November 2019. At that time, there was a stalemate in government formation in Maharashtra. The state was under President's Rule after the Sena had walked out on its pre-poll partner BJP and was exploring a new coalition.

Three years later, one does find Pawar is more troubled than before. He has already declared he nurtures no ambition to be a prime minister candidate or head the UPA to provide a national alternative against the BJP. Also, Pawar realises that the Aghadi arrangement faces a lot of challenges even as his NCP leaders are facing probe by the central agencies for corruption.

Those close to him say that the action of ED attaching properties of Samna editor Sanjya Raut who is very close to him upset him a lot. The arrest of Nawab Malik and former home minister Anil Deshmukh (after allegations emerged that he asked Mumbai police to collect 100 crore from bar owners) has no doubt dented Pawar's own standing though the NCP's contention is that these are action by the Centre due to "political vendetta." Somewhere down the ranks of the NCP, there is a feeling that Pawar depended too much, perhaps, on leaders whose approach to financial matters were never above board.