Narendra Modi has embraced the most tainted slice of Sharad Pawar’s party — less than a week after condemning the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of the Pawars as corrupt — lending credence to the charge of the Prime Minister’s own duplicity on his principal anti-corruption plank.

Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar was sworn in on Sunday as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, where the BJP is sharing power with a breakaway Shiv Sena group.

Ajit, who is facing corruption charges, defected from the NCP with several MLAs to support the government headed by Eknath Shinde. Unconfirmed reports claimed 29 of the 53 NCP MLAs are with Ajit.

The central message in the dramatic developments in Maharashtra was that Modi’s BJP would accept anything to consolidate its position, especially after its setbacks in Karnataka and Bihar.

Almost all the nine NCP leaders, including Ajit, who took oath as ministers on Sunday were grappling with corruption charges and investigations by central agencies.

■ Ajit is facing several cases, including one linked to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (which Modi mentioned on June 27 in Bhopal), in which the ED initiated a money-laundering probe.

The Maharashtra government was also threatening to reopen the irrigation scam after he was given a clean chit.

■ Praful Patel, who was present at the Raj Bhavan and seated next to Ajit at a news conference, saw the Enforcement Directorate attaching one of his properties in 2022. Patel, a confidant of Sharad Pawar, also attended the Patna Opposition meeting but is known to have strong ties with the BJP.

■ Chhagan Bhujbal, among those who took oath on Sunday, was in jail for two years in connection with a case regarding irregularities in awarding contracts of over Rs 100 crore for three projects in 2006 when he was the PWD minister. He is now out on bail. The ED too has filed a money-laundering case against him.

■ The most interesting case is that of Hasan Mushrif, who too took oath as a minister on Sunday, because the BJP was campaigning for his arrest till last week. Mushrif was facing searches by the ED in Mumbai in connection with alleged irregularities in the functioning of a sugar factory owned by his family.

He had moved Bombay High Court, alleging a politically motivated conspiracy to get him embroiled in an ED case. He had said: “It was common knowledge as to how the ED is used in recent times to wreak political vengeance and either severely damage or completely destroy political careers.”

While the Congress said the BJP’s famous “washing machine” resumed operations, Sharad Pawar asked Modi what he would say now after bolstering his position with the NCP leaders whom the Prime Minister had described as corrupt.

Modi had said in Bhopal on Tuesday that the Opposition parties ganging up against him were corrupt and driven by the sole motive of sustaining their little dynastic fiefdoms.

Ajit, who has the unique distinction of becoming the deputy chief minister under three chief ministers in one term — Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and now Eknath Shinde — tried to create an impression that this was not a defection but the NCP as a whole had decided to support the Shiv Sena-BJP government. Flanked by senior leaders Praful and Bhujbal, the junior Pawar said he had the blessings of “the entire NCP”.

Ajit made it clear that he took this decision because of Modi, contending that everybody should support the Prime Minister in taking the country forward. He said: “The country always progressed under one leader. It was Jawaharlal Nehru after Independence, then Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Now Modi, who is popular the world over, is taking the country forward,” Ajit said.

This may entail another legal battle for the ownership of the NCP and its election symbol, much like Uddhav Thackeray faced after Shinde’s defection.

Sharad Pawar dismissed Ajit’s claim as bluster, arguing that the truth of this boast about the whole party being with him will come out in a few days. “Those who had to go have gone. I am not worried, I will rebuild the party and fight the coming elections with the Congress and Uddhav’s Sena,” he said.

Larger motive

The BJP was rattled by the structural changes in Maharashtra and Bihar — which together send 88 MPs to Lok Sabha. While Nitish Kumar’s return to the secular camp considerably weakened the BJP, the Shiv Sena’s inconceivable shift to the Congress-NCP camp created an almost unbeatable combination in Maharashtra. Only these two states would have pushed the BJP below the majority mark in the 2024 parliamentary election.

The BJP had to undertake a massive surgery in Maharashtra for Modi’s survival as Prime Minister. The operation began with an unprecedented political heist in Shiv Sena. However, that didn’t appear enough for two reasons.

First, a badly bruised Uddhav launched a fierce fightback along with the Congress and the NCP, drawing huge crowds across the state.

Second, the Supreme Court order asking the Assembly Speaker to decide on the disqualification of Sena MLAs created an uncertain situation for the government.

The general perception was that the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Opposition alliance, would corner the majority of seats, hollowing out the BJP in a big state. After losing Karnataka and grim projections in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP couldn’t have afforded to suffer heavy losses in Maharashtra. Now it has struck hard, described as robbery by Sharad Pawar, slicing away a huge chunk of the NCP with leaders having mass support across the state.

Ajit, the leader of the defectors’ group, was itching to join the BJP for a long time. Sharad Pawar had spoiled the plot a few weeks ago by offering to resign and then promoting his daughter to take control of the party, but Ajit was working on the MLAs since April and waiting to execute his plan at the right time.

Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Clearly the BJP’s Washing Machine has resumed its operations. A number of new entrants into the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra today had been facing serious corruption charges with ED, CBI and Income Tax authorities after them. Now they have all got a clean chit. The Congress will intensify its efforts to free Maharashtra from the clutches of the BJP.”

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said: “The BJP’s dirty tricks department is working on an overdrive in Maharashtra. This is not a legitimately elected government, but an ED-facilitated power grab.”

Venugopal said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had spoken to Sharad Pawar and extended support to him.

Jairam Ramesh summed it up in one line: “In Euclid’s Geometry: QED. In Mr. Modi’s Entire Political Science: ED.”