If the midnight drama in Maharashtra in which Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar ditched his uncle and veteran Maratha leader Sharad Pawar reminds us of a similar drama in Andhra Pradesh way back in 1995, we are not at fault.
If it was Ajit Pawar who back-stabbed Sharad Pawar now, it was Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu who indulged in a similar act against his uncle N T Rama Rao in August 1995.
There are only two differences in these two episodes: Ajit Pawan is Sharad Pawar’s nephew (son of the veteran leader’s elder brother Anantrao Pawar), while Naidu is son-in-law of NTR.
Secondly, Ajit joined hands with the BJP to prevent Sharad Pawar from sharing power with Shiv Sena, while Naidu usurped power from NTR to prevent his aunt Lakshmi Parvathi from taking over the TDP.
National media has already started comparing the Maharashtra episode with that of Andhra Pradesh drama of 1995.
The main reason for this comparison is that both NCP and TDP are regional parties and are family-driven, run by their patriarchs with an iron grip.
While NTR had a lot of faith in Chandrababu Naidu because of his organisational skills and political acumen, Sharad Pawar strongly believed Ajit Pawar, who has been doing backroom strategies for the NCP to help his uncle.
Interestingly, both Ajit Pawar and Chandrababu Naidu had chosen midnight muhurtham to back-stab their uncles.
On the midnight of August 16, 1995, Naidu held a secret meeting with the TDP legislators at Viceroy Hotel at Tank Bund and got himself elected as the party leader dethroning NTR, while NTR had no clue of what was happening.
Similarly, Sharad Pawar had absolutely no clue as to what his nephew was doing till he woke up on Saturday morning.
While he was getting ready for the formation of a Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, he was shocked to know that Devendra Fadnavis was swearing in as CM and Ajit as deputy CM.
Pawar, too, was crestfallen due to wily politics of his nephew like NTR who felt betrayed by his own son-in-law.
“If Naidu led the revolt against his doting father-in-law to take over the reins of the party and the state, Ajit has engineered a split in the party to share power with the BJP. Their tactics have been similar — scheming, secretive and waiting for the right moment to strike. So is the equation with their mentors — reverential in public but aggrieved in private,” a national media report said.
