Cracks in Mahayuti? Ajit Pawar’s BJP 'gang of robbers' jab has more than meets the eye

Ajit Pawar’s remarks add more complexity to the web of alliances for the Maharashtra local body elections.

• Ajit Pawar: Civic polls should prioritize local issues over national narratives
• NCP factions unite for Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls, excluding BJP
• Pawar accuses BJP of corruption in local body tendering process

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After terming the BJP a “gang of robbers” and a “corrupt monster”, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said civic polls should not be fought on national or even state-level narratives.

“In my 35 years of political life, I have contested many elections, but this time the election is somewhat different and unique," Pawar told news agency ANI.

According to him, while the NCP is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and running the state government with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde, the situation at the local level in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad is different.

Pawar’s remarks come after he had alleged that the BJP had formed a "ring" in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation's tendering process and looted a huge amount of money.

Cracks in Mahayuti?

Pawar’s remarks add more complexity to the web of alliances for the Maharashtra local body elections.

The NCP, BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena are part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the state. Pawar and Shinde serve as deputy chief ministers to BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. The NCP has, however, been kept out of the alliance in several municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation which goes to polls on January 15.

Pawar recently announced a local-level reconciliation within the Nationalist Congress Party, confirming an alliance between his faction and the NCP (SP) led by his uncle Sharad Pawar for the Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune Municipal Corporation elections.

The move comes after Pawar and several MLAs had walked out of the NCP in 2023. They had formed a new faction and joined the then Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra. The Pawars had also fought a bitter battle for the NCP name and symbol, with the nephew winning in the end.

Reports on differences over seat-sharing, alleged poaching, and public attacks like calling BJP a “gang of robbers” suggested that Pawar was uneasy with a permanently junior role of his party in the Mahayuti.

In a stern attack against the BJP, Pawar, whose party has said the aim was to “slay the demon of corruption”, termed its alliance partner “power hungry”.

“There is open loot going on,” he said last Friday.

According to him, the civic body near Pune had massively transformed during the tenure of his uncle Sharad Pawar and then under his leadership from 1991. “But we never got power hungry,” he said.

The BJP, with its 137 MLAs out of 288, does not exactly need its allies since it can find the eight MLAs needed to cross the halfway mark from smaller parties and Independents. The two NCP parties coming together also aimed at keeping the BJP out of their shared turf of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

How is Pawar distinguishing between polls?

The Deputy CM highlighted the progress under Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the national level. He also said the Centre and the Maharashtra state government are providing ample funds for development works across the state.

However, he said local body elections are different from other polls. He said even when different parties were in power at the Centre and the state in the past, local body elections were fought on local issues and often against each other.

He asked voters to consider why, despite unity at the Centre and state, local areas like Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad face challenges.

“In the state, we are running the government together with Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde. Yet in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the public sees a different picture. Sensible voters may ask: if we are united at the Centre and the state, what has gone wrong locally? Similar situations existed before, when local elections were fought separately on local issues, even under different state and Central governments,” he said.

State BJP president Ravindra Chavan hit out at Pawar. According to Chavan, he had repeatedly cautioned the chief minister against aligning with Pawar, urging him to think it over once again. Chavan said he had privately expressed concerns about the manner in which certain leaders joined the Mahayuti.