Even as NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is locked in a direct fight against his nephew and NCP(SP) nominee Yogendra Pawar on his home turf, Baramati, he has joined hands with BJP and Shiv Sena to checkmate his another nephew and Sharad Pawar faction nominee Rohit Pawar from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency in Ahilyanagar district (erstwhile Ahmednagar).
This, at one level, would pit two nephews - Yogendra Pawar and Rohit Pawar - against a confident Ajit Pawar.
NCP insiders say even as Ajit Pawar makes no stone unturned in his pursuit of a possible victory in Baramati, he is doing much the same to ensure defeat for Rohit Pawar, pitted against BJP nominee and former Minister Ram Shinde. Development card is Ajit Pawar's trump in Baramati while in Karjat-Jamkhed, it will sing BJPs' tune - for a fight between an 'outsider' Rohit Pawar and a 'bhoomiputra' son of the soil - in the person of Ram Shinde.
Rohit Pawar is a Congress politician from Baramati, who won the 2019 Assembly elections defeating Ram Shinde of the same constituency. Later, the BJP rehabilitated Ram Shinde and appointed him as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Ajit Pawar, who was in the united NCP during the 2019 elections, had worked hard for Rohit's victory. However, the equations changed after Ajit Pawar deserted his uncle and mentor Sharad Pawar and joined hands with BJP and Shiv Sena in the MahaYuti in June 2023. In addition to the BJP's planning to organize a joint rally of the MahaYuti in Karjat-Jamkhed, Ajit Pawar is expected to hold rallies in Ram Shinde's support.
Since then, several issues have come to the fore that have exposed the chasm between Ajit Pawar and Rohit Pawar on the allocation of funds from the budget and district planning and development council and water from irrigation projects. Not to mention, Rohit Pawar was isolated over his demand for the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation-run industrial estate to be established in Karjat-Jamkhed. Ajit Pawar took the side of Industry Minister Uday Samant and BJP legislator Ram Shinde so that Rohit Pawar should not gain the credit for the new industrial estate. The state government cleared the industrial estate there ahead of the announcement of the poll schedule.
Also, the fight between Rohit Pawar and Ram Shinde is going to be painted as a fight between the nominees from Maratha and Dhangar communities. Rohit Pawar comes from the politically influential Maratha community, whereas Ram Shinde is a member of the Dhangar community which has been seeking reservation from the Scheduled Tribes category. Both the communities have hardening stands on the quota issue. Recently, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had announced that the Dhangar community will get reservation from the ST category and the government resolution for treating Dhangar and Dhangad as the same was also announced. However, nothing of those decisions had actually been done as these were only the political speech.
The stalemate on Maratha and Dhangar reservations is most likely to find an echo among Karjat-Jamkhed's voters as well, given the fact that both the candidates, Rohit Pawar and Ram Shinde, are likely to refer to those during campaigning to seek electoral mileage.
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