No longer symbolism for the Pawars as they fight for a better future

The forthcoming election wonrsquot be just another one for veteran Sharad Pawar who has lost the party he had founded a quarter of a century ago to his nephew Ajit In 1999 he created his outfit the Nationalist Congress PartyHe then made an alliance government with the Congress that had expelled him a few months ago for challenging lsquoforeignerrsquo Sonia Gandhirsquos authority Fighting on a fresh election symbol of a lsquoclockrsquo the unified NCP won a good number of Assembly seats in Maharashtra but did not exceed the Congress tallyPawar is at it again but the circumstances that have led to a situation similar to 1999 are different in 2024 Then it was him against others Now it is him versus his nephew Ajit who is powered by none other than the almighty of the national political setupPawar had said after the Shiv Sena splitters fought for the symbol and party name and later reiterated when his party broke in two that the lsquonewrsquo election symbol didnrsquot matter much in electioneering ldquoI have had many new election symbols in my careerrdquo he had said insisting that neither him nor his promising candidates had lost once whenever they contested on a new symbolTrue that at this point in time the circulation of new symbols would be done with a phenomenal reach and impressive manner much before the elections Canrsquot compare the 20th century polls with the 21st centuryrsquos information technologydriven campaignsLittle wonder then that like Uddhav Thackerayrsquos lsquomashalrsquo torch Sharad Pawar NPCrsquos symbol of lsquoman blowing a tutari or blow hornrsquo reached out to the people merely hours after their release thanks to the modern means of communication and social mediaIn the coming Lok Sabha elections a variety of established and new symbolsmdashone each of the BJP and Congress two each of the Sena and NCP splinters and their alliesmdashwill be seen during campaigning The sharing of 48 seats between the rival alliances will decide the promising lineup for the respective constituencies One thing is for sure Maharashtra wonrsquot have a seamless campaign like twoparty states BJPrsquos 44yearold lsquolotusrsquo will be seen on most EVM screens followed by a slightly more aged lsquoHandrsquo of the Congress and Sena UBTrsquos lsquomashalrsquo depending on the seatsharing deal the MVA partners strikeBlow from the topIts symbol taken care of thanks to the Supreme Court directive that the Election Commission cannot delay it the Sharad Pawar faction chose a highaltitude place of significance in Maratha historymdashthe Raigad Fort which served as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajrsquos capital mdash to unveil itCritics who have been following Pawarrsquos position in the Maratha quota agitation ever since it started in the early lsquo80s linked the event to Pawarrsquos effort to appease the agitated Marathas They said the Maratha leader would not invoke the Maratha Hindu King and did not visit the Shivaji fort in many decades because he did not want to upset the minority votes ldquoWhy nowrdquo asked Pawar Seniorrsquos political opponents DyCM Devendra Fadnavis poked Pawar attributing the veteranrsquos first visit to Raigad fort in 40 years to Ajit PawarFamily battle in BaramatiPawar familyrsquos fiefdom Baramati has rarely created electoral waves because there would be no contest at all The family patriarch and his appointees from the family or outside represented it in Lok Sabha and Vidhan SabhaAjit Pawar began his career from this Lok Sabha seat but vacated within months for the uncle He shifted entirely to state politics as the uncle handed Supriya the Lok Sabha baton and later made her national working president of the party The distribution of work say the handing of legacy was said to be one of the reasons for Ajitrsquos exit People said till the last elections that anyone nominated by Sharad Pawar for the seat would be the handsdown winner The BJP made serious efforts to invade Baramati but in vain It did not really get close to defeating the Pawars in their stronghold though some believed Mahadev Jankar a BJP ally stood a better chance against Supriya in the Modi wave of 2014 Jankarrsquos loss was attributed to his denial of contesting on the BJPrsquos election symbol Supriya won the next handsomely Like his cousin Ajit too had been registering recordwinning marginsWill the summer of 2024 be the same It is said Baramati is likely to witness a contest that would further define the wideness of the rift between Ajit and his uncle and his supporters in the extended family Grapevine says that either Sunetra Ajitrsquos wife or his son Parth would be pitted against Supriya Parth had lost on his Lok Sabha debut from Maval in 2019Sunetra a homemakerturnedsocial worker no longer shuns public life She has been very active since the NCP split using all her understanding that she had gathered from the Pawar family and her paternal family in Dharashiv Her elder brother Dr Padamsinh Patil was a minister and longtime close Pawar associate Her BJP legislator nephew Rana Jagjit Sinh was also a minister in the CongressNCP governmentsDharmendra Jore is political editor midday He tweets dharmendrajoreSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom