Mumbai: Cracks have begun to appear within the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra after Deputy CM and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar skipped a critical National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. This development has intensified speculations about internal discord, particularly in the aftermath of the recent Lok Sabha elections, where Pawar’s faction faced significant setbacks, a media report said.
According to the report, Ajit Pawar’s decision to skip the NDA meeting is seen as a reflection of his dissatisfaction with the coalition’s support, or lack thereof, during the elections. His faction of the NCP managed to secure only the Raigad Lok Sabha seat out of the four constituencies it contested. The most notable defeat was in the Baramati seat, where Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, was defeated by his cousin and the incumbent MP Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. Despite an aggressive campaign led by Ajit Pawar and the Mahayuti, Sule won comfortably with a margin exceeding 1.5 lakh votes.
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Following this defeat, intra-coalition tensions have surfaced, with NCP MLC Amol Mitkari accusing the BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena of not fully supporting Sunetra Pawar’s campaign. Mitkari labelled the loss in Baramati as a betrayal and a humiliating defeat. “Alliance partners did not work for us. This was a family seat. Anybody will feel upset with this defeat,” said Mitkari, who also serves as an NCP spokesperson. He mentioned plans to raise this issue in the upcoming party meeting on Friday, promising to name the Mahayuti leaders who failed to campaign effectively.
The poor performance in the election has cast doubts over the future of Ajit Pawar’s NCP within the Mahayuti coalition. In an effort to strengthen his position ahead of the elections, Ajit Pawar had reconciled with several old adversaries, including former Minister and Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare from Purandar, and BJP’s Harshavardhan Patil from Indapur, both of whom are influential in the Baramati region. Shivtare, initially a third challenger aiming to overthrow the Pawar clan in Baramati, had reconciled with Ajit Pawar prior to the polls.
Despite these reconciliations and the Mahayuti holding four of the six Assembly segments in Baramati, the coalition could not muster enough votes for Sunetra Pawar. Ajit Pawar, who has represented Baramati as an MLA for nearly 35 years, found his influence insufficient to prevent Supriya Sule from securing her fourth term as Baramati MP.
This electoral setback and the ensuing internal discord have raised questions about the stability and unity of the Mahayuti coalition as it navigates the political landscape of Maharashtra.
