This is the first Maharashtra assembly election after the split within the NCP, and NCP president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is staring at a difficult challenge to prove his political legacy. His party has fielded 56 candidates, several of them in a direct contest against NCP(SP) – led by his uncle Sharad Pawar whose party has given tickets to 87 candidates.

In this exclusive conversation with Sreenivasan Jain, Ajit Pawar dismisses all claims about being the weak link in the Mahayuti alliance. “Congress did not win a single Lok Sabha seat five years ago…have you forgotten all that?”

Asked about allegations that his party lacks a clear ideological position, he says, “Don’t ask about ideology in Maharashtra…the entire politics of the state has changed. Everyone wants power here. Ideology has been sidelined for power.”

About the crossover to the BJP camp, he points to alleged meetings attended by the Pawars, home minister Amit Shah, industrialist Gautam Adani, among others, before his rebellion. But asked why Sharad Pawar did not cross over to the BJP camp, the NCP chief says, “No one can tell what is on Pawar saahab’s mind…Neither aunty, nor Supriya (Sule).”

The deputy chief minister admits it was a mistake to field his wife Sunetra Pawar against his cousin Supriya Sule in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat. “I shouldn’t have fielded my wife…People did not like it.”

Pawar also says he is not worried about several leaders from his party returning to his uncle’s camp. “Whoever has to leave can go. I take whoever comes my way.”