Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was keen on uniting the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party, and the merger was on the verge of completion, a close associate of the late leader has claimed.
Kiran Gujar, who has been associated with Ajit Pawar since before his entry into politics in the mid-1980s, told PTI on Thursday that Pawar had confided in him just five days before the fatal plane crash that claimed his life. “He was 100 per cent keen on merging both factions. He told me the entire process was complete and the merger was imminent within days,” Gujar said.
During the recent civic polls, which both factions contested together, Ajit Pawar had also told select journalists that he intended to merge his party with the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) while his uncle Sharad Pawar remained in good health. After jointly contesting the January 15 civic elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, the two sides had decided to continue their alliance for the upcoming Zilla Parishad elections as well.
Gujar said Ajit Pawar had a clear roadmap for the merger and the future course of a united party. On whether discussions had taken place with Sharad Pawar, Gujar said positive talks were underway with Pawar, Supriya Sule, and other senior leaders, and there were indications that the move would receive the elder Pawar’s endorsement.
“Many positive developments were on the cards, but this tragedy took Ajit ‘dada’ away from us. After his death, it has become even more imperative that both factions come together and work for the betterment of Baramati and the state,” Gujar said.
A confidant of the Pawar family for over four decades, Gujar recalled that after Ajit Pawar won the election to the Chhatrapati Cooperative Sugar Mill in 1981, he was persuaded to enter public life. Initially reluctant and keen to focus on farming and family, Pawar eventually stepped into politics when Sharad Pawar became chief minister in the late 1980s, filling the need for young leadership in Baramati. “Development will continue, but a leader like Ajit dada will not emerge again,” Gujar added.
