It was during his tenure as Guardian minister, Ajit Pawar got the NCP to power in the Pune civic body. (File Photo)
Whenever in power, Ajit Pawar ensured that he would be the Guardian Minister of his home district Pune. However, in his absence, the big question now is – who will take on the responsibility from the state Cabinet?
Ajit Pawar first handled the responsibility of Baramati town, which falls in Pune district, with his uncle Sharad Pawar busy in state and national politics. Though the development of Bramati is well known across the country as undertaken by NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar, the affairs of the town were handled by Ajit Pawar. It was through his involvement in Baramati town that he created a network of his followers.
Between 2004 to 2014, Ajit Pawar took responsibility as Guardian Minister of Pune in the Congress led Democratic Front government.
The post was taken over by then state minister Girish Bapat of BJP after his party came to power in the state in 2014. He took the responsibility till March 2019 till he was elected to Lok Sabha from Pune constituency and after that the BJP appointed state minister Chandarakant Patil to hold the post for a few months till assembly election in 2019.
Ajit Pawar once again took over the responsibility during the MVA rule in 2019 and retained it till the Uddhav Thackeray led government was in power. As the MVA government collapsed and the BJP-Shiv Sena government came in power, BJP minister Chandrakant Patil once again became the Guardian minister of Pune. However, he had to reluctantly give the responsibility to Ajit Pawar after the NCP joined the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
The Mahayuti retained power in 2024, and Ajit Pawar continued with the charge of Guardian Minister of Pune.
Now, the NCP is part of the ruling alliance but Ajit Pawar is no more. There are three ministers from Pune in the state ministry which include Chandrakant Patil of BJP, Dattaraya Bharne of NCP and Madhuri Misal of BJP.
“There is a demand reportedly coming from NCP that Sunetra Pawar be made deputy chief minister so it is too early to say anything on who will be the next Guardian minister of Pune,” said BJP leader Sandeep Khardekar.
On Patil being the senior most minister from Pune district in state cabinet and past experience of Guardian minister of Pune, he said, “Right now everyone is in shock and yet to come out of it. I don’t think he has given a thought on taking over as Guardian minister of Pune. Also, the practice is that the post of any minister is retained by the leader of the same party in alliance. Also, the merger of both the NCP cannot be ruled out in current circumstances.”
The BJP has the largest strength of nine legislators elected to state assembly from Pune district while NCP has eight legislators but Pawar did not give the post of Guardian minister of Pune to BJP.
In the municipal council elections in December last year, the NCP dominated elections by winning 10 of the 17 civic bodies. However, the BJP showed that it was a dominant force in urban areas as it defeated NCP and gained power in Pune as well as Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation in January 15 elections. Now again the two state level allies are fighting against each other to establish their supremacy in rural areas in the ongoing election of Pune Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis.
An NCP leader said, “As a mark of respect, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should appoint only an NCP minister as Guardian minister of Pune instead of pushing the post for BJP. NCP minister Dattaraya Bharne is from Pune district.”
