Ajit Pawar starts cooking for 2029 Maharashtra Polls with sugar politics plunge

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been intensely campaigning in Baramati for the Malegaon cooperative sugar mill elections, where he and his ' Nilkanteshwar Panel' are contesting all 21 seats, with Pawar himself vying for the Chairman's post. This aggressive canvassing, involving 15 rallies and meetings and a changed schedule, has drawn attention as Pawar is contesting a sugar cooperative poll after nearly 40 years.

This contest is being widely seen as more than just a cooperative election, potentially offering a glimpse into the political landscape of Maharashtra's 2029 Assembly polls. Ajit Pawar's panel faces the ' Sahakar Bachao Shetkari Panel' led by BJP's Chandrarao Taware. Despite being allies, the BJP has not pressed Taware to withdraw, nor has it fully supported Pawar in this contest. Taware asserts the contest is non-political and purely for farmers' interests, but observers in and around Baramati interpret it differently.

"This is the only sugar factory that is within Baramati, while there may be just 19,600 voters, if you count their family members then it comes to more than a lakh, then this cooperative also runs several educational institutions from KG to B pharmacy, MBA everything is taught in these institutions. If you count the students studying in it and their families, then this sugar mill directly impacts several lakhs of people within Baramati. With Taware being in the BJP, dada is not keen to have a BJP member control a key sugar cooperative that could influence politics in Baramati in future," said an NCP party functionary from Baramati.

The 'future' here refers to the 2029 Maharashtra Assembly polls. Following their 133-seat win in the 2024 assembly elections, there's internal BJP discussion about contesting over 180 seats in the next polls. With 288 total seats in the Maharashtra assembly, this ambition would leave only 108 seats for their allies, NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), a division neither would likely accept. "There is surely going to be a conflict within the alliance over the seats, as the BJP looks to play the big brother. At least one of its two allies may not be happy with the allocation of seats and may want to contest separately, what the BJP is doing now is to make inroads in their bastion in order to unsettle them in advance," said an unnamed political observer.