At war with Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar likely to sail with BJP

MUMBAI: While Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar is rallying all Opposition parties together to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his toughest challenge comes from his own family - with nephew Ajit Pawar trying to wrest control of the NCP.

As per reports, Ajit is likely to join hands with the saffron party and take the entire NCP with him. According to sources, Ajit does not want to defect from the NCP but wants to take the entire party along with him, just like Eknath Shinde’s takeover of the ‘Shiv Sena’. However, the major hurdle for him is that majority of NCP legislators do not want to follow him against Sharad Pawar’s wishes.

“There are close to 18 young MLAs who are ready to follow Ajit on whatever decision he takes. But the majority, particularly senior leaders, want him to convince Sharad Pawar and get the latter's consent to side with the BJP. However, the NCP chief has not yielded so far,” a senior party leader said.

Even the ones loyal to senior Pawar confirmed that Ajit is set to side with the BJP. A former Maharashtra minister and close confidante of Sharad Pawar said, “It is now a foregone conclusion that Ajit dada will join hands with the BJP, along with NCP MLAs. This will most likely happen next month. But whatever happens, I will remain with Pawar saheb. What I have today is because of him.”

A group of Sharad Pawar loyalists still hold sway in the party and are also trying to “expose” Ajit by revealing his next political move before he acts on it.