What Ajit must learn from his Pawar-ful uncle

In 1991 when Ajit Pawar entered the state assembly from Baramati all eyes were on this reticent 32yearold the youngest member of the Sudhakarrao Naik ministry Though he was a man of few words the aura that came with his name was enough for others to sit up and take notice mdash after all he was one of the famed Pawars from Baramati With equal number of friends and foes the Pawars have always had a commanding presence in state politics Their foes may appear few but only because many of them are secret ones But in many ways state politics revolves around the mighty clan In 1993 Ajit was not a member of the state cabinet because his uncle was back in the saddle after the March 1993 bomb blasts But by then he had become an influential politician People who failed to meet Pawar Senior would contact him He never quite acquired the smoothness and diplomacy that is common to politicians His language was always crude and his remarks stinging at best But his colleagues put up with this believing that he was a good man in spite of the rough edges Moreover he was heir apparent to the Pawar clan as Supriya was nowhere in sight So Pawar Junior was indulged never rapped on the knuckles for unsavoury statements No serious attempts were made to change his behaviour and polish it into the kind evinced by his uncle who in spite of his scathing wit and shrewdness always managed to hit the mark with correctly chosen words Even after Pawar Senior shifted to New Delhi in 1996 Ajit didnrsquot really develop in spite of holding cabinet posts Even today at age 54 with 22 years of experience in state politics under his belt it is not Ajit but his uncle who calls the shots His tactlessness has taken his years back Supriya Sule on the other hand is fast emerging as Pawar Seniorrsquos successor Though now associated best with urinary problems Ajit is also known as a man who starts his day at 6 am meets people addresses their grievances not mincing his words and giving clear answers to their queries and questions He wields great power over the state bureaucracy mdash no official summoned by him dares to skip a meeting even if it is scheduled at 7 am He is a popular man with legions of followers who are not just limited to his hometurf Baramati or Pune they have now spread to Vidarbha Marathwada and the Konkan It is said that he has a welldevised plan up his sleeve to win 100 seats and has his eyes set on the next elections even though he will first have to deal with the allegations of a huge scam in the state irrigation sector where Rs 70000 crore were spent with little to show for His supporters say he has all the copies of the sundry proposals submitted by local leaders for increasing the scope of irrigation Beneficiaries in irrigation sector include leaders from all political parties So what he said on April 6 at a function in a village near Baramati was truly the lsquobiggest blunderrsquo of his life as admitted by the man himself Remarks made by him on urination in dams and the fallout of load shedding were unacceptable and unimaginable from a person who has been in state politics for the last 22 years and more shamefully is the deputy CM With this scandal Ajit has joined the league of other notorious deputy CMs mdash Nasikrao Tirpude in 197778 Ramrao Adik in 80s Gopinath Munde between 1995 and 1999 Chhagan Bhujbal from 1999 to 2003 R R Patil between 2004 and 2008 mdash all their tenures are marked with turbulence Ajitrsquos remarks shocked his uncle so much that even though he was in Mumbai and Pune from April 10 he did not meet anyone not even his party colleagues Normally Pawar spends a day or two of every week in Mumbai and summons his party colleagues to discuss various issues It was only on Saturday that he came publicly reacted to the matter Pawar Senior indirectly clarified every aspect of the issue mdash the farmer was demanding release of water from Ujani dam where storage is almost nil And the stored water that is available in upstream projects of Ujani is meant for farmers who have parted with their land for the project He added that the farmers were all part of the Baramati constituency What Ajit had said in a crass unacceptable manner was explained by his uncle with tact and logic He said that he would not desert the Baramati farmers till his last breath as they have parted with 27000 acres of land for the Ujani project Ajit had much to learn from his uncle mdash The writer is Political Editor MiD DAY