The recent meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has created ripples within the Opposition. More so since Shah is also the BJPs ace strategist and the party’s man on the ground when it comes to wooing new allies. Of course, given the recent turmoil in Maharashtra, it has set the focus firmly on the state government; for don’t forget, Pawar was flirting with the saffron camp in the run up to the formation of the state government in 2019. There was that meeting with PM Narendra Modi right on the eve of government formation that had everyone speculating that Sharad Pawar would form an NCP-BJP government in the state in return for a trade-off for a cabinet post at the Centre. It was also speculated that the post would be for his daughter Supriya Sule and not for himself. However, that did not happen and Ajit Pawar, who joined the BJP government at the state during a midnight swearing in, had to later backtrack. But one always wondered if Ajit Pawar took that step on his own, or was it at the prompting of his uncle who is known to play both camps.
Which brings us back to the present. What is interesting about the recent meeting between Sharad Pawar and Shah is that at first the NCP camp denied such a meeting had taken place and later had to backtrack after the BJP—and indeed Shah himself—confirmed that it had happened. What was the NCP trying to hide? If it indeed was a meeting between political colleagues from different camps, why hide it?
There is also a larger concern at play for until now Sharad Pawar was the man tipped to bring the Opposition together. There was also talk—indeed the Shiv Sena was promoting his candidature—as the UPA convenor to replace an ailing Sonia Gandhi. That Pawar had a cordial relationship with Mamata Banerjee (easily one of the tallest leaders in the Opposition) added to his heft. He would be acceptable to all except perhaps Arvind Kejriwal who had gone after him in his earlier days as an anti-corruption crusader. But then the AAP leader is also known to balance idealism with pragmatism, so it is unlikely that Kejriwal would have objected too much to Pawar bringing all Opposition leaders on to one platform. However, all this was before that fateful meeting in Ahmedabad a few days ago. Now once again, Opposition leaders are asking themselves if they can trust the wily Maratha. Would Pawar sell them out to carve a sweetheart deal for himself?
While the Opposition tries to answer that one, it has another and much more difficult question on its hands: If not Pawar then whom? Who is that one leader who can bring all the Opposition leaders on to one platform to counter the Prime Minister’s mass appeal? If Mamata wins West Bengal then she can be the face but does the mercurial leader have the requisite gravitas to take egos of all shapes and sizes along with her?
And if not Mamata, then whom? The ball falls back into the Congress court with Sonia Gandhi emerging as the best candidate. But for how long can she continue? It’s an interesting chain of thought that is sparked off by one dinner meeting in Ahmedabad.