Pawar fortifies his hold on sugar belt, poaches leaders from BJP, nephew Ajit

Mumbai: In an anticipated move, Harshvardhan Patil, a prominent BJP politician from Pune district, joined Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) faction on Monday.
Patil’s decision, while unexpected, was not entirely unforeseen. A long-standing rival of Ajit Pawar, who recently split from his uncle’s party to join the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government with a majority of NCP MLAs, Patil had set his sights on contesting from his constituency of Indapur. Having lost the seat to NCP in both the 2014 and 2019 elections, Patil found himself at odds with the current arrangement within the Mahayuti alliance, where each of the three parties is set to contest seats where they have sitting MLAs.
The sitting MLA for Indapur, Dattatray Bharne, is aligned with Ajit Pawar, effectively blocking Patil’s path to candidacy through the Mahayuti alliance. This impasse led Patil to join Pawar’s party, despite efforts by Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis to dissuade him.
Patil’s defection represents a significant setback for the BJP, given his prominence in western Maharashtra. He is the second leader from the sugar belt to leave the party for the Pawar camp, following Samarjeet Ghatge from Kolhapur.
The next potential defector could be Madhukar Pichad, a long-time Pawar ally who joined the BJP in 2014. Pichad’s son Sandeep, a former BJP MLA from Nagar-Akola constituency, lost to an NCP candidate in 2019. With the NCP MLA now aligned with Ajit Pawar, the senior Pawar is actively seeking a candidate for the seat.
Reports suggest that at least three leaders from Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction are in talks to return to the Sharad Pawar camp.
This series of additions to his party demonstrates Pawar’s strategy to reclaim lost ground in his stronghold of western Maharashtra. By recruiting from rival parties, Pawar is securing candidates in constituencies where he lacks suitable contenders with winning potential. The high-profile defections of leaders like Ghatge and Patil have also created a stir in the region.
At a function welcoming Patil to the party on Monday, Pawar announced plans for a rally in Phaltan, Satara, on October 14. Phaltan is the hometown of Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, a former close aide of Pawar who sided with Ajit Pawar during the party split. Reportedly unhappy with the deputy chief minister, Naik-Nimbalkar may be considering a return to the Pawar camp.
“I welcome Patil to our party. There are many people who want to work with us. This is just the beginning,” Pawar stated on Friday.
The sugar belt of Maharashtra, stretching from Nashik to Kolhapur, has long been a stronghold for Pawar, particularly in the western Maharashtra region. In the 2019 assembly elections, out of 67 constituencies in six western Maharashtra districts, the then BJP-Shiv Sena alliance won 24 seats, while the NCP-Congress alliance secured 37, with 6 going to smaller parties or independents. The NCP alone won 25 seats, nearly half of its total tally of 53.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 8 seats in the region, while the ruling Mahayuti managed 4. Pawar’s faction alone secured four of the MVA’s 8 seats.
With most of NCP’s 25 MLAs in the region having joined Ajit Pawar, some are now concerned about their future as local sentiment appears to be turning against the ruling parties. Pawar has concentrated his efforts in this area, aiming to win over 50 seats across Maharashtra.
Addressing the unease within his party, Ajit Pawar sought to reassure his colleagues at a public meeting in Satara district on Monday. “I have been reading in newspapers that so-and-so has gone to the opposite side and so-and-so would go soon. You need to understand, we have 40 MLAs. There is no question of denying them tickets for the elections. The opposite side needs people to fill the empty slots of candidates in these 40 constituencies,” he said. He also hinted at imminent defections from rival parties to his own.