‘Pawar Settles The Chanakya Question, Sorry Modi-Shah, You Lose’
‘“Chanakya" Sharad Pawar Outwits BJP, Becomes Maharashtra Man Of Match’
‘Sharad Pawar Halts BJP’s Juggernaut’
‘No One Messes With Sharad Pawar’
India woke up to these headlines on 27 November, a day after, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance staked claim to form the government in Maharashtra with Uddhav Thackeray as their Chief Minister.
But just four days before this, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the state’s Chief Minister with the NCP’s Ajit Pawar as his Deputy….for a total of 3 days and 8 hours before they both resigned, stating that they did not have the majority required to form the government.
The man behind this dramatic turn of events? The undisputed engineer of Maharashtra’s new government, and, some would, perhaps, even assert - the ‘Chanakya’ who united 162 MLAs to give Maharashtra its new Government?
The one who had become Maharashtra’s youngest Chief Minister at the age of 38, the one who founded the NCP in 1999, and the one who’s often called the Maratha strongman – Sharad Pawar.