Having set a record for being the longest deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar left this world on Wednesday with his unfulfilled desire to become the chief minister of Maharashtra. The NCP leader, who established himself in Maharashtra politics as an heir to Sharad Pawar, had openly expressed his desire to hold the top post several times.
Ajit became deputy chief minister for the sixth time after the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. He has served as Deputy Chief Minister from 2010 to 2012, 2012 to 2014, briefly in 2019, 2022 to 2023, 2023 onwards, and from December 2024 to the present. He has served in this role in the governments of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray, and Eknath Shinde.
On one occasion, Ajit said that if he were Sharad Pawar's son, he would have become Chief Minister. “If I were Sharad Pawar's son, wouldn't I have had the opportunity? I certainly would have. Just because I'm not Sharad Pawar's son, I haven't been given a chance. What an injustice," he said.
Interestingly, there was a conspiracy theory that the NCP did not stake a claim to the Chief Minister’s post after the 2004 elections despite emerging as the single largest party, to sideline Ajit Pawar. There were speculations that the decision was made to prevent Ajit Pawar from clearly establishing himself as the number two in the party. At that time, Sharad Pawar remained non-committal about the race for the top post despite his party getting four seats more than the alliance partner Congress. "Even if they get one seat more than us, I will accept their chief minister," he famously said.
This incident was later raised by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis in 2022 to take potshots at Pawars. Fadnavis said Ajit Pawar could have been Maharashtra CM in 2004, but was not given the chance by Sharad Pawar. “It was 'sad' that Sharad Pawar did not make Ajit Pawar ven when he had the opportunity to do so, given that the NCP could dictate terms at the time,” Fadnavis said.
However, neither the party nor Ajit Pawar has commented on this.
That said, Ajit Pawar has always described himself as a follower of Sharad Pawar, despite the political differences between him and his uncle post the split. There were reports that Ajit Pawar's strained relationship with his uncle and cousin, Supriya Sule, began to improve lately. This led to both factions contesting the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections together. Supriya Sule herself made the announcement to contest the civic elections together.