Dynasty prevails as Supriya Sule wins NCP succession race

Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi, 2015. The arena is full; invitees jostle to find a place. At the entrance, one person mans the entrance, receiving and escorting visitors. When the function starts, the person can’t find a place to sit. No matter. He plonks himself on the beige carpet, legs crossed, eager to listen to the speaker.

The person who didn’t mind sitting on the carpet was Ajit Pawar. And the occasion was his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s 75th birthday celebrations.

In the run-up to the birthday function, the senior Pawar was often badgered with a query: who would be his political heir? It elicited a usual response — people will decide.

In India, political leadership is not decided in the primaries. And so, almost a decade later, when the time came to hand over the baton, Pawar chose his only child, daughter Supriya Sule, over nephew Ajit.

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That Pawar went with Supriya and not Ajit doesn’t come as a surprise: close relations are good but immediate family is better when it comes to politics. Nephews, in most cases, have either had to sit out or play supporting roles.

Pawar set the stage for his daughter’s elevation with a surprise announcement that he was stepping down as the party head to make way for a new generation. It led to a few days of drama that played out on expected lines and he took back the resignation. A month later, the Maratha strongman again surprised the cadre by announcing Supriya and Praful Patel as working presidents.

Take the fate of the other famous nephew in another powerful political family from Maharashtra — the Thackerays. Raj Thackeray, the nephew of Bal Thackeray, had to leave the party and launch his own outfit. Raj could rally troops and had the gift of the gab, but the reins of the party were handed over to the Shiv Sena founder’s son, Uddhav. The rest, as they say, is history.

In Telangana, BRS founder K Chandrashekar Rao set in motion the succession by appointing his foreign-educated son K T Rama Rao as the working president. His nephew Harish Rao toiled years on the ground but had to make do with a place in the state Cabinet. The message is clear: this is as far as you go.

There is a familiar script in other states. In Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal sought to anoint his son Sukhbir, prompting his nephew, Manpreet Badal, to rebel and join the Congress and become a finance minister in Amrinder Singh’s government.

In Uttar Pradesh, uncle Shivpal Yadav and his son Aditya were engaged in a protracted battle with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh, who eventually prevailed in the Samajwadi Party.

But sons and daughters being in charge do not guarantee political success. It is all about who can win elections.

The task is cut out for 53-year-old Supriya, a Lok Sabha MP from the family stronghold Baramati, which was represented by her father for decades.

Affable, articulate and with plenty of friends across parties, Supriya will have to come out of Pawar’s shadow soon and steer the party in upcoming polls. Eventually, she will have to match Ajit, who has a sway over the party cadre.

Supriya, a science graduate and mother of two kids, has started off well in her new innings, calling her cousin the Amitabh Bachchan of Maharashtra politics.

She bristled at nepotism charges recently. “Look at my performance in Parliament. Parliament is not run by my father or uncle or mother. Lok Sabha data shows I am at the top. That is not nepotism but merit,” said Supriya.

Unlike many dynasts in Parliament, Supriya has 93% attendance, participated in 219 debates, raised 546 questions and piloted 13 private members’ bills since 2019; something she is proud of.

Senior journalist Sunil Gatade, who has followed the trajectory of Pawar politics for decades, says Supriya has the advantage of watching Pawar in action from close quarters but that alone would not do.

“Supriya has been a pillion rider so far but now as working president, she is the rider. Till now, every challenge stopped at Pawar’s doorstep. Now she has to step up, she has to be boss and colleague at the same time. All depends on how she manages to take people along with her,” he told DH.

One of the biggest challenges for Supriya would be handling Ajit, who has for long aspired to be the chief minister of Maharashtra. Ajit has not given a peek into his thinking about the ‘transfer of power’.

But that may not mean he is not doing anything, Gatade said. “It is to be seen how BJP plays its game now,” he added.

For Supriya, the Pawar surname is a powerful booster shot, but it will only carry her that far. While she leads the party at the national level, her immediate agenda will be to connect with party workers and earn the trust of Maharashtra leaders and allies.