In a political event that is likely to go down as a watershed moment in the history of the NCP, Sharad Pawar on Tuesday announced his resignation as the chief of his party. His resignation has put his nephew Ajit Pawar back in the throes of political speculations that the latter is slowly moving towards the BJP.
There is this speculation that Pawar wants to put his nephew in place. "My guess is that Sharad Pawar has decided that he should resolve the Ajit Pawar problem once and for all till he is alive. Let Ajit go out even at the cost of splitting the party so that the party can belong to his daughter once and for all. Sharad Pawar may be ready to lose 2024," wrote Mandar Manmohan Sawant, a political commentator.
A vertical split within the NCP is said to be on the anvil. "Two explosions were predicted by Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule. Seems one was his meeting with Gautam Adani and the other is his resignation as NCP chief. The stage is set for the daughter's elevation or split with Ajit Pawar, methinks," wrote Madhavan Narayanan.
Even as Sharad Pawar is saying that he is not residing from public life, his loyalists within the party are urging him to reconsider the decision.
