Baba Siddique’s assassination puts Ajit Pawar on back foot before polls

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will contest the Assembly elections in Baramati and face a challenge from his nephew Yugendra Pawar of the NCP (SP) in the second political fight within the family to prove their hold on the Pawar fiefdom. The NCP (SP) has been promoting Yugendra Pawar in the Baramati Assembly segment since the Lok Sabha elections, where he played a major role in the election campaign of Supriya Sule and managed to ensure a lead of over 48,000 votes for her against his aunt Sunetra. While the Mahayuti alliance's complete seat-sharing arrangement is yet to be officially announced, the NCP faction is expected to contest 52-54 seats. Other key candidates include Chhagan Bhujbal, who will contest from Yeola, and Dilip Walse Patil from Ambegaon. However, Ajit Pawar had taken Baba Siddique and others under his wings hoping to cut into some of the Congress' votes in the Siddiques' Mumbai stronghold. But, with the Muslim leader's sudden death, Maharashtra's politics has taken an unexpected turn. Siddique's former Congress colleagues are crying foul more fiercely than Ajit Pawar. Clearly, Ajit Pawar has been put on a weak footing following Siddique's assassination. His helplessness shows that Maharashtra politics is once again veering towards the old game of sharpening of polarisation on communal lines.