Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who shared the dais with rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during an event in Pune, said on Sunday that the rebel NCP leader was now finally seated at the right place.
This was first time Mr. Shah, who holds the Cooperation portfolio, shared the stage with Mr. Pawar after the latter split the NCP led by his uncle Sharad Pawar last month to align with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction government.
“I have come here for the first time since Ajit dada became Deputy CM and I am sharing the stage with him. I want to tell him that Ajit dada, you are finally sitting at the right place [with the ruling BJP] after a long time. While this was the right place, you took too long to come here,” Mr. Shah quipped, evoking chuckles among the audience.
Mr. Shah unveiled the digital portal of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies during the programme where CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were also present.
Mr. Pawar, on his part, praised the Union Cooperation Minister, remarking that while Mr. Shah hailed from Gujarat, he had “more affection for Maharashtra”.
“It is well-known that Amit bhai is considered as Maharashtra’s son-in-law. Believe it or not, a son-in-law generally has more affection for his in-law’s home,” said Mr. Pawar, who had joined the ruling Shinde-Fadnavis government on July 2 with several other senior NCP leaders.
Meanwhile, Mr. Shah, in his speech, stressed on more transparency in the cooperative movement, stating that the sector could not move ahead without greater transparency and responsibility.
“It is only with a more transparent set-up that the cooperative sector can successfully integrate 60 crore people whose livelihoods are dependent on it,” said Mr. Shah, who was on a two-day visit to the city.
The adhesion of Mr. Pawar and several senior NCP leaders with the ruling government has finally given the BJP an opportunity to politically dominate the sugar heartland of western Maharashtra as well as lay siege to Sharad Pawar’s citadel of Baramati.
Barring some successes in past elections, western Maharashtra, known for its sugar cooperatives, has largely remained the preserve of the NCP and the Pawar clan.
In July 2021, the then undivided NCP had been apprehensive about the formation of a separate cooperation ministry under Mr. Shah by Prime Minister Modi.
At the time, NCP president Sharad Pawar had said that the Central government could not meddle in the functioning of Maharashtra’s cooperative sector as all the cooperative societies in the State were governed by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Act and that only the State, and not the Centre, had the right to frame policies and enforce them in this sector.
The formation of the Co-operation Ministry under Mr. Shah has sparked speculation that the BJP’s real motive was to break the NCP’s stranglehold over Maharashtra’s cooperative sector, thereby attenuating the party’s political hold in the State, particularly the sugar heartland of western Maharashtra.
