After Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced to step down as the party chief, the big question is who will lead the 24-year-old party. Even as party workers are protesting against Pawar’s decision, the veteran leader’s daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar are considered frontrunners for the post.
While announcing his decision, Pawar also announced a panel of senior party leaders to draw a future course of action. Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, P C Chacko, Narhari Zirwal, Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule, Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhujabl, Dilip Walse-Patil, Anil Deshmukh, Rajesh Tope, Jitendra Awhad, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Jaydev Gaikwad and chiefs of party frontal cells will be a part of the committee.
Sharad Pawar’s resignation came days after speculations hinted that Ajit might join hands with the BJP. However, Ajit dismissed these claims as baseless and reiterated that he would stay in the NCP till his last moment
Last month on April 19, Sule said there will be two “political blasts” in the next 15 days—one in Delhi and another in Maharashtra. It is apparent now that one of two “political blasts” is Sharad’s resignation from the party chief. All eyes are now on the other.
Ajit Pawar
With uncle Sharad Pawar as his guide, Ajit quickly rose through the ranks within the party. His political innings began in 1982 when he was elected to board of a cooperative sugar factory in Maharashtra.
In 1991, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Baramati. However, he vacated the seat for Sharad Pawar and returned to state politics. He entered the Maharashtra assembly after victory in the 1991 Assembly elections.
The seven-term MLA has handled important portfolios like deputy CM, Finance, and Agriculture in the past.
In 2019, Ajit attempted a coup when he extended support to Devendra Fadnavis’s government defying Sharad Pawar and became the deputy CM. However, the government’s stint lasted for only three days. Sharad apparently forgave him and he was made deputy CM when the NCP joined hands with Congress and Shiv Sena to form the government with Uddhav Thackeray as CM.
Supriya Sule
When NCP was in power with Congress in Maharashtra in 2006, Supriya Sule was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006. She has won three consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat since 2009.
Sule is the face of NCP in Lok Sabha and has been aggressively taking up matters in the House.
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