Mumbai: While the merger of the two NCPs has been deferred for now and late DCM Ajit Pawar‘s widow Sunetra Pawar elected as the NCP’s legislature party leader and deputy chief minister, political observers said the new political arrangements will put CM Devendra Fadnavis under more administrative pressure as he will have to wear multiple hats. Ajit Pawar’s passing has left a massive vacuum, and Fadnavis will have to step in to fill his shoes. Presenting the state budget in less than a month will be the first of the tasks, but handling both political and administrative jobs that come with the finance portfolio will take up a lot of his time. Political observers said compared to DCM Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar created less friction and fewer public spats, giving CM Fadnavis some breathing space to run the government. With this space now gone, and despite Sunetra Pawar taking over as DCM, the political, legislative and administrative void will remain for a long time. “With Ajit Pawar as DCM and finance minister, a lot of administrative work and financial tightrope walking was handled by him. Ajit Pawar was clearly the able DCM and someone CM Fadnavis relied on to do the administrative heavyweight lifting. The question now is how much will one person be able to do given the time constraints and lack of credible alternatives to delegate work,” a senior official said. An NCP functionary said because of the stature and position Ajit Pawar enjoyed, he would tackle over 150 MLAs on his own. “Ajit Pawar had a long experience of administration. He was a workaholic and worked seven days a week. In fact, his attendance in Mantralaya was the highest among ministers. Many MLAs from across parties, even the opposition, went to Ajit Pawar for funds, administrative direction and resolving their problems. ,” said the functionary.
