Interview/ Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister, Maharashtra
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is facing perhaps his toughest electoral challenge yet. What should have been a cakewalk has become a closely contested race between Ajit and his younger brother’s son Yugendra Pawar.
Educated in the US, Yugendra has a degree in finance. He was by the side of his grand uncle, former chief minister Sharad Pawar, during the Lok Sabha polls when Ajit fielded his wife, Sunetra, against Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule. Supriya won, and Ajit later expressed regret for involving his family in politics. But now, Ajit told THE WEEK, Sharad Pawar was making the same mistake. So be it, he said, adding that he is confident of winning with a comfortable margin.
Edited excerpts from an interview:
Q/ The Mahayuti has completed two and a half years in power. What are the achievements of the government?
Since this government came to power, the Centre has granted allocations that were previously lacking. Work on national highways and metro projects, and the expansion and development of airport terminals, have gained momentum. The expansion of the Pune airport terminal, costing Rs500 crore, was done on war footing after the acquisition of defence land.
We also made substantial budgetary provisions to benefit people, and completed work on the Coastal Road and the Atal Setu. Work on the Samruddhi Highway, a dream project of former chief minister and current deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, picked up speed because of his good relations with the Centre.
Earlier, strained Centre-state relations―stemming from the Shiv Sena breaking ties with the BJP and deciding to form government with its opponents―led to delays in approving projects. Amicable Centre-state relations lead to faster approvals. During those two and a half years, projects could not move forward.
Funds have now been sanctioned for big [projects] and large-scale work has been carried out. Work on the long-pending Pune ring road has begun. The proposed deep sea port at Vadhavan, which has been pending for 30 years, has been approved for Rs75,000 crore.
Q/ You have the reputation of being a no-nonsense finance minister. Doesn’t the Ladki Bahin Yojana or the Ladka Bhau Yojana sound like an appeasement scheme?
There is a significant financial divide in the living standards of women in this country. Women from lower-income backgrounds slog away every day, doing odd jobs like domestic help, garbage collection and cooking in multiple households just to make ends meet. If you have lived in rural areas or visited urban slums, you would see them survive in such unliveable conditions. We talk of budgets and expenditures in the range of crores of rupees, while these women continue to live wretched lives.
Maharashtra has a Rs6.5 lakh crore budget, so we decided to give some relief to these women while presenting it this year. After all, a people’s government that works for people’s good creates schemes to equitably share tax resources…. I have made a provision of Rs75,000 crore for all such [schemes] in the budget.
The budget of Rs6.5 lakh crore increases 8 to 10 per cent every year. Besides this, there is allocation from the Centre depending on the state’s population. We can also borrow, adhering to the 25 per cent loan limit based on state capital (the state’s gross income).
The Maha Vikas Aghadi alleged that we emptied the state’s coffers, and that the state was reeling under debt. But we actually spent the money well, making good budgetary provisions and paying salaries on time.
The MVA has now brought up a five-point programme to counter our schemes. It has promised Rs4,000 per month to the educated unemployed, which means Rs40,000 crore if one crore people apply for the scheme, and Rs3,000 per month to women, for which they will need Rs1 lakh crore. The promise to waive debt up to Rs3 lakh would mean an additional burden of Rs50,000 crore. Then there is the promise of free education for children.
So, based on my experience as finance minister and discussions with some good, retired officers, [we estimate that] this five-point programme will cost Rs3 lakh crore. Salary, pension and insurance cover―which the MVA increased from Rs5 lakh to Rs25 lakh―alone will form a major share of expenditure. Does the MVA even have an idea that these three provisions would cost the government Rs3.5 lakh crore?
If this entire programme is to be implemented, the total cost would be Rs6.5 lakh crore―equivalent of the entire state budget. Where will they find the money for municipal councils and corporations and other civic bodies?
Q/ In 2019, you joined hands with the BJP and took oath as deputy chief minister in an early-morning ceremony. Did it happen with Sharad Pawar’s knowledge?
The elections are just days away, so what is the point in bringing up old events? I think all of you know how things work.
Q/ Do you think this was deliberately done to belittle you?
I really do not want to comment on it. For me, that chapter is over. Let’s look forward and think about the new government.
Q/ You fielded Sunetra Pawar in Baramati in the Lok Sabha polls, but she lost. You later helped her become Rajya Sabha member of the NCP. How much did you influence this decision?
I did not influence this decision at all. To tell you the truth, senior party leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare told me that they would nominate Parth Pawar (Ajit’s son) to a vacant Rajya Sabha seat. But Parth said he was unhappy that his mother had lost the election, and requested that the party nominate her.
Q/ What do you think went wrong in Baramati?
Nothing went wrong. The voters of Baramati are very intelligent. They respect their saheb (Sharad Pawar), and considered his age as they gave their verdict. The equation was: Supriya Sule at the Lok Sabha and Ajit Pawar at the Vidhan Sabha. They voted accordingly, and Supriya Sule won by 48,000 votes. Let’s wait till November 23 to see the margin that voters give me.
Q/ Has this contest made your relationship with Sule bitter?
This was inevitable. Many people advised me against fielding another member of the family when Supriya Sule was already contesting, but I went ahead, even against Sunetra Pawar’s wishes, and had her contest. I realise that this was a wrong call. I have no qualms in admitting it.
Q/ It seems the Pawar family did not celebrate Diwali together.
I was touring the villages of Baramati district to greet people on Diwali, so the family celebrated [in my absence]. On Bhaubeej, though, all my sisters gathered to wish me before I drove off to work.
Q/ So you and Supriya did not meet?
My mother, our family, and my sister live at Katewadi. My elder brother Rajendra Pawar lives at Rishitek near Baramati. Pawar saheb lives in Govind Baug on Malegaon Road. There is an old bungalow in Baramati, built by my grandfather in 1952, but no one lives there…. The whole family lives in six or seven houses in different places.
Q/ Your mother was not in favour of giving the ticket to Yugendra, so as not to widen the rift in the family.
She said so, but now he is contesting.
Q/ Does it bother you?
If they decide this as a response to the Lok Sabha polls, that Yugendra will contest the polls right under our noses, then they are free to do so.
Q/ How many seats will the Mahayuti get?
The Mahayuti will get around 175 seats.
Q/ It was Fadnavis who made allegations against you regarding the irrigation scam and other issues. Is it awkward working with him now?
At that time, we were against each other, and so they decided to discredit me. Some workers who later joined my party said they inflated the scam amount―from Rs1,000 crore to Rs2,000 crore, and then to Rs3,000 crore, finally settling on Rs70,000 crore. The larger the number, the greater the damage, they said. But when they claimed Rs70,000 crore in 2009, the department had not even been allocated the amount. Only Rs42,000 crore had been spent, including on salaries, from [the time of] Yashwantrao Chavan saheb to Prithviraj Chavan. Nothing came out of the inquiries later either―by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Economic Offences Wing.
Q/ Some of your colleagues have gone back to [Sharad] Pawar.
Everyone took the decision [to join the government] together. I made one mistake: I should have kept a Xerox copy of it. Rajesh Tope and a few others went to [Sharad] Pawar and said we should join the government. After seeing the letter signed by everyone, he (Sharad Pawar) said, ‘Okay, if you all want to go, you should’. He said that Praful Patel, Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar should lead discussions on the division of portfolios, departments and so on.
Q/ If a post-election situation requires that you and Sharad Pawar work together, would you be open to it?
There is no point in discussing hypothetical scenarios. My view is simple: we are with the Mahayuti, and we all are trying our best to win as many seats as possible. With the support of the Central government, we can bring more projects and funds.
In the Lok Sabha polls, we fell short by just 0.6 per cent votes. Even though the difference was so narrow, the MVA got so many more seats. Our math went wrong a little bit, but we also suffered because of fake narratives, such as the [alleged intent to] change the Constitution, and the controversy over the onion export ban.
Q/ You were part of Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet. Did you feel that he was ineffective, or that he did not have a grip on the administration?
He became chief minister in November, and I joined him in December. He had no legislative experience, but he tried to learn, and he put his full trust in me. I never let that trust be broken in the two and a half years he was in power. He was doing his job. During Covid, he could not travel much, but he always tried to guide the state through video-conferencing. He tried to do the work his way; I did it my way.