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Baramati stands by him, through thick and thin

Pawar's detractors maintain his contribution to Baramati and his relevance in politics have been exaggerated by the media. That all the three sugar factories were started ten years before his first election; the percolation tanks were beneficial to only a fraction of the populace; he gave plum posts to his relatives in the Krishi and Vidya Pratishthans; brought in malpractices to the sugar and milk co-operatives; MIDC just has four-five companies of consequence; and most importantly, water is scarce in a region where farming is the lifeline of the people.

"Topographically, there are regions which cannot be irrigated. Even if lift irrigation method is used it can't be stretched beyond 5 km. That is why we have to depend on tanks. Actually if you observe, only 13 per cent of Indian land is irrigated," adds Hiremath.

Pawar's political rivals are quick to point out that the family with just five acres of land 30 year ago, are now millionaires. Their business enterprise stretches from shipping, computers, publication to automobile agencies. "But Pawar made money from industrialists, he hasn't robbed the poor," says a close aide.

However, everyone is unanimous that Pawar has an unshakable presence in his constituency. Although the zilla parishad elections one-and-a-half years back saw the Congress get 51 per cent and BJP-Shiv Sena 49 per cent votes, locals say it bears no reflection on Pawar's personal popularity. "His expulsion from the Congress will also not make any difference here. Yes, his margin may be reduced. But I cannot say the same for the rest of western Maharashtra," says Shahjirao Mukutrao Kakde, who lost to Pawar in the 1985 assembly election.

The Kakdes -- owners of the Someshwar Sugar Factory -- have been old Pawar rivals. While they live in Limbut -- one end of Baramati -- the Pawars live in Kathewadi, at the other end. Pawar's first political opponent was a Kakde and apart from a brief truce between 1986 and 1991, the Kakdes have remained on the other side of the fence. "Pawar is a turncoat. His political career is studded with instances where he has back-stabbed people. When he could not even spare his mentor Chavan, what can we say of his opportunism," says Kakde, now a member of the BJP.

Repeatedly labeled as an opportunist, Pawar has remained a key player in Maharashtra politics since Y B Chavan's time. He was a member of the Congress till 1978 when he went off to head the PDF government. His party was called the Congress-S, not Sharad as sometimes thought, but after an Assamese Congressman named Sinha who was then president of the party. "He was a minister in Vasantdada Patil's cabinet, but he ditched him. Vasantdada finally resigned and Pawar became the next CM," continues Kakde.

Much has been made of the fact that Pawar betrayed his mentor Y B Chavan. But did he? Chavan, once a titan in national politics, was finished as a political force, and Pawar perhaps saw no real reason staying by his side. Chavan was briefly deputy prime minister in the Charan Singh government and died in November 1984, a lonely man. Incidentally, former Union home secretary R D Pradhan, once Chavan's personal secretary and biographer, is one of Sonia Gandhi's closest advisors.

Pawar remained with the Congress-S till November 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi invited him to return to the parent party. Some say friend-turned-foe Suresh Kalmadi interceded on Pawar's behalf, and he returned as chief minister from 1988 to 1991. He also served another term as CM, after the Bombay riots, between 1993 and 1995 when the Congress was vanquished by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.

Former loyalist Gurudas Kamat, MP, says Pawar is a grass-root leader, a good political strategist with excellent organisational skills. "From his origins in a small village, he has worked hard to reach where he is today, working at an average of 18 hours everyday. This itself is an accomplishment," adds brother Appasaheb.

Such a frenetic pace, of course, has its fallout. "Now he has some knee problem, and spent 21 days in Kerala for Ayurvedic treatment some time back," says a family friend.

Within political circles and outside, there are few who deny his burning ambition to become prime minister. He has often confessed that after giving so many years to Maharashtra he wants to focus on the national level. Past attempts -- after Rajiv Gandhi's death and during Sitaram Kesri's time -- proved unsuccessful, but Pawar is not one to let go of that dream.

"If Pawar couldn't dislodge a weakling like Kesri, it is an indication of what little support he has within the party," says former Maharashtra Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh. However, another longtime associate says Pawar took on Kesri in spite of knowing he did not have much chance because ''there was no other way he could get so much publicity at the national level.'' He further explains that Pawar has failed to build a support base in the party because he has been wary of promoting people who could pose a threat to him. "People find it hard to trust him," he adds.

Pawar's detractors say he will be marginalised without the Congress party. "Logon ke dil se haath ka panja hatane mein Sharad Pawar ko samay to lagega hi (it'll take Pawar some time to convince his voters that the Congress is no longer good enough)," says Uttam Bhumkar, office secretary for the last 20 years at the Congress office in Pune.

His supporters, however, seem convinced that with his expulsion Pawar will finally come into his own. "When the CWC gave no importance to his abilities and doesn't believe in inner-party democracy, what was the purpose of his continuing in the party? They don't have the guts to speak against Sonia Gandhi," says Pune MP Vithalrao Thupe, one of the first to declare his support for Pawar after last Thursday's expulsion.

It is widely believed that Pawar used Sonia's Gandhi's citizenship issue as an excuse to get out of a party which had no future for him. In the unlikely chances of her opting out of the fray, he felt she would have preferred Manmohan Singh or Madhavrao Scindia over him. Pawar knew that all the Opposition parties would make Sonia their main issue. An electorate that votes mostly on the basis of caste would cast an Italian away, which would in turn result in a reduced number of seats for the Congress.

Close associates reveal that this may well be Pawar's last gamble in politics. Perhaps, even his last election. He has spoken to friends about a desire to retire in a few years. After which he would let the businessman in him take over, and supervise his business ventures. With the battle-lines drawn between him and Sonia's Congress, that possibility, however, seems a long way off.

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda

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