The 2019 Meeting of the Pawars, Amit Shah, Fadnavis with Gautam Adani

Maharashtra’s deputy CM Ajit Pawar has sparked a controversy entangling his uncle and Doyen of Maharashtra politics Sharad Pawar. In a revelation to media Ajit Pawar said that in 2019 Gautam Adani hosted a meeting where forming a BJP-NCP coalition government was on the menu of discussion. The meeting saw the presence of Amit Shah, Devendra Fadnavis, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel along with Ajit Pawar. Reportedly, Sharad Pawar also confirmed what his nephew Ajit has revealed.

Even though we don’t have any means to draw out what was discussed in that high-profile meeting we know the aim of it. The result was not as expected by Adani as the NCP-BJP coalition government did not form in Maharashtra.

Recalling quickly the turns of events after the 2019 Maharashtra election, we would find Devendra Fadnavis becoming CM with Ajit Pawar as the deputy when he rebelled with Sharad Pawar and walked over to BJP. But the bond didn’t work for long and within a short span of time Ajit Pawar returned to NCP fold and thus Fadnavis government was toppled. Uddhav Thackeray took over as the CM for couple of years enjoying the support of congress and NCP. Then there was split again, but this time in Shiv Sena and Eknath Shinde became the CM. Ajit Pawar came out of NCP again and his faction joined Shinde which brought him back the deputy CM post but under a different CM.  

The Questions:

Some questions appear exigent that go beyond intriguing who forms government coalescing with whom. The first is the involvement of people with humongous wealth that can interfere into the formation of government. Is it not derision of the public mandate and for that matter democracy? The people voted their opinions so as to whom they want to run the government. 

The BJP, till now, has kept itself away from making any comment on Ajit Pawar’s claims. But the party has got entangled automatically with it as it has been often criticized of having maintained good relations with Gautam Adani.

Adani has faced sharp criticisms from Uddhav Thackeray over the matter of turning Asia’s largest slum Dharavi into a modern hub under Dharavi redevelopment plan. Thackeray has alleged that Adani will exploit those living in Mumbai by means of getting the redevelopment contract from the Mahayuti government. They have promised to scrap the plan if the MVA comes to power. 

Leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi has time and again criticized BJP of having unconditional support to Adani that has led to his financial progress by leaps and bound. On a similar note, ex Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has not spared PM Modi by alleging that he works for Adani.

However, this is not the only instance of billionaires infringing the government-forming process. We remember the Niira Radia tapes during Manmohan Singh’s government which involved politicians, journalists, leaders of political parties including BJP. The Radia tapes controversy involved the then Telecommunication minister A Raja. 

Will it Impact the Coming Election?

The ensuing election for Maharashtra assembly is turning out to be one of the most intense electoral battles of the state. Will the controversy sparked by Ajit Pawar’s revelation have any impact on it?

Well, it’s too early to say. But surely, BJP will not be benefited anyways, nor the Mahayuti. Nor it is very clear yet with what intention Ajit Pawar scratched a five-year old memory that ought to have significant political implication. It is also not clear whether Ajit Pawar actually had something in his mind or he said just like that.

The ruling Mahayuti is already facing tough fight from the MVA consisting of Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) and NCP (Sharad Pawar). During the Lok Sabha poll Mahayuti suffered a setback in the hand of MVA and attempts of targeting Sharad Pawar by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah boomeranged on BJP.

However, there remains a possibility that both Ajit Pawar and BJP may attempt to show Sharad Pawar in bad light. Nevertheless, Sharad Pawar will have his points to say, that though he was present in the meeting but ultimately did not fell prey to it and Ajit Pawar rebelled with him on this backdrop.