Huge setback for NCP, Ajit Pawar had no cards left to play

The NCP has suffered the embarrassment of having two ministers dropped from the state cabinet, within just nine months of each other

MUMBAI: There was no sparing Manikrao Kokate – Ajit Pawar was simply out of chips, for now. As a result, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by him has suffered the embarrassment of having two ministers dropped from the state cabinet, within just nine months of each other. Both stepped down in connection with criminal cases, a political liability the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance chose not to shoulder.

Ajit Pawar (Hindustan Times)

In March this year, then agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet after a close aide, Walmik Karad, was arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh, a village sarpanch in Beed district. The case snowballed into a political scandal, eventually forcing Munde to step down.

Now Kokate, who was minister for sports, youth welfare and minority affairs, has resigned. He took this step a day after an arrest warrant was issued by a Nashik court on Wednesday, in a case relating to the fraudulent allotment of a flat under the EWS quota. Kokate has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, a sentence upheld by the Nashik Sessions Court on Tuesday.

A senior NCP leader said Pawar was reluctant to drop Kokate but was left with no choice. “Having a minister resign in the middle of local body polls does not bode well for the party’s campaign. Second, having two ministers from his party resigning within a year after the government was formed shows the party in a poor light.”

In both instances, it was chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who nudged Pawar to drop the ministers, pointing out that, if they stayed on, the alliance government’s reputation would be compromised.

When the Sessions Court upheld Kokate’s sentence on Tuesday, Pawar wanted to bide his time, to see if the Bombay High Court was inclined to stay Kokate’s sentence, according to a party insider. Fadnavis accepted Pawar’s stand but withdrew Kokate’s portfolios. The optics mattered; he had to be seen as taking action.

But when the high court did not provide any immediate relief to Kokate on Wednesday, instead posting the matter to Friday, Fadnavis insisted that Kokate be dropped from the cabinet. Pawar had, in fact, already secured Kokate’s resignation letter, but wanted to keep it pending until Friday, when the high court was to hear Kokate’s appeal. But with an arrest warrant issued, Fadnavis was clear he should be dropped.

The Parth episode

The Kokate episode comes on the heels of the Pune land controversy involving Pawar’s elder son Parth, whose company Amadea Enterprises LLC illegally bought 40 acres of Mahar Watan land and then evaded stamp duty amounting to ₹21 crore.

“We worked hard at shedding baggage we carried from the Congress-NCP regime, when several of our ministers were accused of wrongdoing. We slowly improved our image but these instances have dented it again,” admitted a senior party leader.

The resignations have also left a bitter taste within the NCP. “The Shiv Sena’s minister Sanjay Shirsat faced a series of allegations including a viral video which showed a bag full of cash in his room. A dance bar owned by minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam’s family was raided by the police. Despite a strong attack by the opposition, Shinde refused to take action against his ministers. Only our party was forced by big brother to drop two ministers,” said an NCP minister.

But Pawar’s hands were tied. His son Parth has not faced charges in the Pune land controversy even though he is majority owner in Amadea Enterprises. Also, the high-level committee appointed by Fadnavis to investigate the case, was recently given an extension, keeping the issue off the table, for now.

“When Fadnavis insisted on Kokate’s resignation, Pawar was not in a position to push back,” said the NCP minister.