After the resignation of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, the market of speculations about his political legacy was hot. People were looking at one of his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar as the successor of Nationalist Congress.
If any person interested in politics is asked who has imbibed Sharad Pawar's political methods the most, surely most people will name Ajit Pawar or Supriya Sule. However, looking closely, it will be understood that the formula of Sharad Pawar's politics has been imbibed the most by the present Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde.
Eknath Shinde follows the footsteps of Sharad Pawar!
In the present times, people may find it strange to find similarity between Eknath Shinde and Sharad Pawar, who are opposite to each other. Keeping aside the political ideology of Sharad Pawar and Eknath Shinde, if we look at the early period of Sharad Pawar's political career and look at the unexpected rise of Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra politics, it clearly emerges that despite being in the opposition party Eknath Shinde is also following the footsteps of Sharad Pawar.
We are saying this because in the year 2022, the way Eknath Shinde rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership and ousted Uddhav Thackeray and got the post of Chief Minister, it was exactly the same as in 1978, Sharad Pawar got the post of Chief Minister from his party and the Chief Minister. By rebelling, he himself reached the chair of the Chief Minister.
With 40 MLAs in its fold, the government toppled.
In 1977, the declaration of the end of emergency and the assembly elections were also held in Maharashtra along with the Lok Sabha elections. Prior to this election, the Congress party had split and Congress (I) and Congress (R) participated separately in the Maharashtra assembly elections. The newly formed Janata Party emerged as the single largest party in this election, but fell short of a majority.
To prevent the Janata Party from coming to power after the elections, the two factions of the Congress united and formed the government. Sharad Pawar was also made a minister in this government. But not even a year had passed that Sharad Pawar brought down the government by taking 40 MLAs in his fold and then became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra with the support of the ruling Janata Party at the Centre. In this way, Sharad Pawar became the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the age of 38, which is still a record.
Eknath Shinde repeated history in 2022.
After this, with ups and downs in his political career, he was successful in becoming the Chief Minister of the state four times and Union Minister twice. This was perhaps the first time in Indian politics to rebel against his party and his government and become the chief minister himself, and his nephew Ajit Pawar unsuccessfully tried to follow this successful experiment in 2019, but three years later in 2022, repeating the history of 1978 Eknath Shinde managed to reach the Chief Minister's chair by rebelling against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray .
When Sharad Pawar chose a different path from Indira Gandhi
Sharad Pawar, who started his journey from student politics, also participated in the Goa Liberation Movement. At the same time he joined the Congress party and managed to reach the state assembly for the first time in 1966 on a Congress ticket at the age of 27 and since then he continuously expanded his influence in the state and the party. This was the time when a power struggle was going on between Indira Gandhi and senior syndicate leaders in the Congress party and there was a split in the Congress.
At that time, Sharad Pawar did not go with Indira Gandhi and joined Congress (R) with his political guru Yashwant Rao Chavan. But shortly after rebelling from Congress(R) he established Congress Socialist and became the Chief Minister with the help of Janata Party.
Three-time Chief Minister
In 1980, when Indira Gandhi came to power at the Center once again, she dismissed Sharad Pawar's two-year-old government and now Sharad Pawar has come to the opposition. In the 1984 Lok Sabha elections held after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Sharad Pawar was successful in reaching the Lok Sabha amidst the Congress wave. He established a good relationship with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, due to which Rajiv Gandhi brought him back to the Congress and was made the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the second time in 1988.
This time he completed his term as Chief Minister. During this, he tried to establish himself in the politics of the center. When Rajiv Gandhi died in 1990, he staked a strong claim as the next Prime Minister, but later had to be content with the post of Defense Minister. At that time, the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao saw Sharad Pawar as his rival at the Center and that is why Pawar was once again removed from the politics of the Center by making him the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
With the completion of the tenure of the Narasimha Rao government , which rejoined the Congress after the rebellion,
the interference of Congress party Sonia Gandhi was increasing. In 1999, when it was decided to officially make Sonia Gandhi the President of the Congress, Sharad Pawar rebelled once again. Along with PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar, he shaped the Nationalist Congress Party. At the same time assembly elections were to be held in the state, no one could get majority in that election as well and once again Sharad Pawar joined the government with the same Congress party with which he had rebelled recently.
Took over the post of Agriculture Ministry in 2004
After the establishment of the Nationalist Congress, Sharad Pawar's political life started getting continuity in a way. After running the government in Maharashtra in collaboration with the Congress from 1999 to 2004, the Nationalist Congress Party contested the 2004 Lok Sabha elections under the banner of the United Progressive Alliance under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and the Congress and formed a government at the Center with mutual cooperation, with Sharad Pawar in this government. Became Agriculture Minister.
The decision of farm loan waiver taken in 2008 as Agriculture Minister was a matter of wide impact and discussion. Sharad Pawar's tenure as Agriculture Minister continued even after the general elections in 2009. During this, he was also accused of providing undue benefits to foreign food exporters, as well as came under the target of critics due to the suicide of farmers.
Sharad Pawar brought Shiv Sena and Congress together
Sharad Pawar's political sheen started to fade after Narendra Modi came to power at the Center in 2014, but amid the political crisis in the state after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly election results, Sharad Pawar brought Shiv Sena and Congress together . By bringing the Congress party on a single platform and forming the government under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, he once again proved his political skills.
Decisive role played as BCCI President
Along with being a politician, Sharad Pawar also played a remarkable role as a cricket administrator. During his participation in the UPA government, he also established his supremacy in the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Sharad Pawar worked for a long time as the President of BCCI as well as ICC Chairman. It was during his tenure that the Indian Premier League, which changed world cricket, started.
Sharad Pawar is the Bhishma Pitamah of Maharashtra's politics.
This veteran leader, who has been active in Indian politics for more than 60 years, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award, by the Government of India in 2017. Today, despite the supremacy of the saffron party in the country, Sharad Pawar remains a strong pillar of secular politics. The atmosphere created during the announcement of his resignation from the post of NCP president and his re-assuming the post proves that Sharad Pawar is still the Bhishma Pitamah of Maharashtra politics.
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