Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who was considered as the weak and inexperienced Chief Minister and it was presumed that the Nationalist Congress Party’s heavyweight leader Ajit Pawar would dominate him has not only brought his party councilors back to the party but also cancelled the transfer of 10 deputy police commissioners (DCPs) which were done by keeping Thackeray in dark.
The day was embarrassing for Ajit Pawar, when Thackeray called Nilesh Lanke, NCP legislator from Parner in Ahmednagar district to Matoshree, before the scheduled cabinet meeting at 3 pm. Lanke had played a key role to split in Parner Shiv Sena. Five Sena councilors – Nandkumar Deshmukh, Nanda Deshmane, Vaishali Auto, Kisan Gandhade and Dr Saiyad had resigned Sena and joined NCP in presence of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar a few days ago.
Poaching of leaders from other party is very common in politics these days. But in Parner case, NCP had poached Sena councilors despite both are allies and are share power in the state.
The Sena leaders while speaking on conditions of anonymity said that the NCP committed two mistakes.
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“Junior Pawar must not forget that he is in power with Sena and not with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ajit challenged CM Thackeray by poaching our party members. The second mistake NCP committed was home minister Anil Deshmukh approved transfer order of 10 DCPs without taking the CM in confidence,” said the Sena leader.
He further said that if we had endorsed these two decisions and had forgotten it, the NCP would have committed the same mistakes in future. That was the big threat to keeping the party intact. “What CM did in this case, first he (Thackeray) revoked the transfer order of DCP. It was shocking for the NCP and for its supremo Sharad Pawar. Senior Pawar might have felt that what is going on in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) it is not safe to run the government and that it would complete its full tenure. That is why senior Pawar rushed to Matoshree yesterday evening and met Thackeray,” said the Sena source.
In a closed-door meeting, the issue might have sorted out. Uddhav might have conveyed his message in ‘stern’ language that if Pawar wants the government must survive, then all major decisions will be taken after his consent. NCP cannot supersede CM, the leader guessed.
The impact of the revocation of the DCP transfer orders was that the NCP legislator along with five councilors rushed to Matoshree and the councilors rejoined the Sena.
The incident must have reminded Ajit Pawar of what he had done in November 2019, when he rebelled and joined hands with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis to prop up a three day wonder government. Soon after Fadnavis resigned Ajit Pawar was back in the NCP fold and once again becoming a minister. The Sena councilors too must have shared the same feelings of what Ajit Pawar had in 2019.
This episode has given clear hint to Ajit Pawar that though he is ‘Dada’ in NCP, Uddhav will not tolerate his ‘Dadagiri’ and there will not be a Super CM in MVA government.
Ajit Pawar is the same leader who had once warned leaders of Sena, NCP and Congress if they would try to quit the party and join the opposition. He had said that the ruling three parties in combine will teach a lesson to such rebels. The sources claimed that Parth Pawar, son of Ajit was a key player in poaching of Sena councilors.
