Analysis | A tale of two coups — Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction seeks to avoid Sena vs Sena bitterness

Two consecutive ‘surprise’ calls by the rebel faction on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar have stupefied political pundits.

With Maharashtra’s electorate yet to recover from the shock of rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar’s sudden alignment with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two consecutive ‘surprise’ calls by the rebel faction on NCP chief Sharad Pawar have stupefied political pundits.

On July 15, nearly two weeks after being sworn-in as Deputy CM and splitting the NCP, Ajit Pawar had visited his uncle Sharad Pawar’s ‘Silver Oak’ residence in Mumbai to meet his aunt and Mr. Pawar’s wife, Pratibha, who was discharged after recently undergoing a surgery.

While this was justified as a courtesy call (given Ajit’s closeness to his aunt), the younger Mr. Pawar then paid two unscheduled calls to his uncle at Mumbai’s Y.B. Chavan Center on July 16 and 17, accompanied first by the Ministers of his rebel NCP faction and then by the rebel MLAs.

On both occasions, rebel NCP leader Praful Patel solemnly told reporters they had merely come to seek the “guidance” of their “idol” Sharad Pawar and entreat him to think on party unity.

The visits to seek Mr. Pawar’s guidance after his nephew split the party was bewildering given that the rebel faction, in a meeting on June 30, had already elected Ajit Pawar as the NCP party president.

That said, the contrite tone of the rebel camp leaders after the two meetings was in stark contrast to their recent speeches and statements where Mr. Patel, Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal had vocally expressed their frustration about Mr. Pawar’s “stubbornness” and functioning style. (In his speech on July 5 following his swearing-in, Ajit had exposed his uncle’s dalliances with the BJP while exhorting him to retire from politics and make way for others.)

In contrast, there was no such contriteness after Eknath Shinde’s June 2022 revolt against his then chief, Uddhav Thackeray – a coup that brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Mr. Thackeray.