NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar is known to be one of the smartest politicians in the country. Even in times of crisis, he does not lose cool, which was evident when the MVA government was formed in Maharashtra. While BJP is not slated to lose power in the Centre any time soon, Sharad Pawar is making moves to somehow become Prime Minister in 2024. He is making efforts to unite opposition leaders against BJP. However, witnessing Pawar’s political journey, it can be asserted that he is a clueless politician, and it is the media that presented him as a crafty player.
Pawar – a failed backend operator:
Despite being a great communicator, Sharad Pawar has lost almost every battle of his political history as the politician has always been a bad backend operator. While politicians like PV Narasimha Rao and Amit Shah are some of the tallest leaders on the grounds of political acumen and are considered to be smooth political operators, Pawar completely failed to be one despite being a popular leader among Marathis.
Pawar’s failed attempt to become PM:
Due to his bad luck on that front, Pawar has come to be known as the “best Prime Minister India never had”. On three occasions – in 1991, 1999 and 2019, Pawar had aimed to become Prime Minister. He had been disappointed on all counts. In 1991, three prime ministerial candidates’ names were doing the rounds. Sharad Pawar, back then, was in Congress and had not formed the NCP. By then, Sharad Pawar had emerged as a regional stalwart and a decent national leader who knew more about politics than everyone in the Congress combined.
Sharad considered Madhav Rao and Arjun as potential threats to his claim to the post, whereas he completely underestimated PV Narasimha Rao, believing him to be a walkover. However, because of his political acumen and strategies, PV Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister.
In 1999, after yet another failed attempt to become Prime Minister, he was convinced that he could not grow any further in the party monopolised by the Gandhis, and so, broke away and founded the NCP.
However, the NCP, later that year, joined forces with Congress to form a coalition government in Maharashtra. In addition to that, following the 2004 national parliamentary elections, the NCP joined the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as a coalition partner. Well, Pawar’s coalition with Congress despite being humiliated by them clearly depicts that Pawar is a clueless politician.
Pawar’s another loss- Maharashtra Politics:
As far as NCP’s political history is concerned, the party founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999 has merely formed a single government in Maharashtra on its own. In the first election, it contested there, won 58 seats out of 223 seats contested. Later, the party allied itself with the Congress Party (which won 75 seats) to form a coalition government in the state. The alliance continued and the NCP became part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government in 2004 (which chose Manmohan Singh to be prime minister and not him).
Even now, the NCP is running a coalition government in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena and has also failed to take control of BMC even once.
Thus, it is clear that NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar is just a name hyped by the media and has no strong claims to support the notion that Pawar is a crafty politician.