Analysis | With Ajit Pawar as a ‘Trojan horse’, BJP seeks to storm Baramati and Maharashtra’s sugar heartland   Premium

In using Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar as the ‘Trojan horse’ to breach the senior Pawar’s bastion, the BJP sees a fair chance in dominating both Baramati and the crucial sugar belt (Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur districts) for the first time in Maharashtra’s political history.

For several years, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) efforts to storm Sharad Pawar’s citadel of Baramati and politically dominate the sugar heartland of western Maharashtra have come unstuck. Barring some successes in 2019, this region has largely remained the preserve of the NCP and the Pawar clan.

However, in using Mr. Sharad Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar and his splinter NCP faction, as the ‘Trojan horse’ to breach the 82-year-old NCP patriarch’s bastion, the BJP sees a fair chance in dominating both Baramati and the crucial sugar belt (Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur districts) for the first time in Maharashtra’s political history.

The Baramati Lok Sabha seat (in Pune district) has been shorthand for the Pawar clan’s dominance in the State’s politics, being held almost continuously by Mr. Sharad Pawar from 1991 till 2009, and then by his daughter Supriya Sule.

Likewise, the Pawar uncle-nephew duo have bestrode the Baramati Assembly segment like colossi, retaining unchallenged sway for more than 50 years since 1967. While Mr. Sharad Pawar remained the Baramati legislator between 1967 and 1990, Mr. Ajit Pawar has been the unchallenged king of the constituency for a record seven terms since 1991.

With Maharashtra’s political ship buffeted by raging tempests in recent times, the BJP has succeeded in hemming in Mr. Sharad Pawar in Baramati: of the six Assembly seats in the Lok Sabha constituency, the senior Pawar’s faction today holds none.

Sharad Pawar’s ally in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Congress, holds two seats in the Baramati Lok Sabha segment — Bhor (held by three-term MLA Sangram Thopate), and Purandar (Sanjay Jagtap). 

The BJP holds the critical Khadakwasla Assembly seat (held by Bhimrao Tapkir), which has the highest number of voters (nearly 4.7 lakh voters) in any segment in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, as well as Daund, held by its MLA Rahul Kul. The crucial Indapur Assembly seat is held by Mr. Ajit Pawar’s firm ally Dattareya Bharne, while Baramati is held by Mr. Ajit Pawar himself, now allied with the BJP.