'NCP Workers Make Ajit Pawar THE Ajit Pawar'

Ajit Pawar granted Rediff an interview in Baramati at 6 am. Why?
'To be a successful politician one needs to sleep less, and I never sleep for more than 4 hours,' Mr Pawar told Syed Firdaus Ashraf as Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff captured the encounter on his camera.

Back in 2024, covering the Lok Sabha election in Kashmir, I met a fellow Maharashtrian at the Srinagar hotel that I was staying in.

Speaking to someone in Marathi gave me a sense of bonding during my seven day stay in Kashmir.

He was from Baramati, a district-level worker of the Nationalist Congress Party and told me how close he was to Ajit Pawar, the Maratha strongman.

Key Points

'I ensure that I am present in their good and bad times'
'I am always free at 6 am'
'I have to be awake before everyone'

"Whenever you are in Baramati please let me know, I will arrange an interview for you with Ajit Pawar," he told me.

As luck turned out, I was in Baramati a few months later to report on the Maharashtra assembly elections.

And I wanted to interview Ajit Pawar.

I reminded my acquaintance about his promise to arrange an interview with Ajit Pawar.

'Ajit Dada is always particular about timings'

He was not in Baramati but arranged for another NCP worker to accompany me to Ajit Pawar's home.

My colleague Hitesh Harisinghani and I reached Mr Pawar's home in Baramati late one evening, only to discover that he was not in Baramati and would only arrive at 1 am.

The NCP worker introduced me to Mr Pawar's secretary and within minutes my appointment was fixed for 6 the next morning.

"6 am or 6 pm?" I asked Mr Pawar's secretary.

"6 am."

The NCP worker interjected and said, "Don't be late because Ajit Dada is very particular about timings. He will meet you at 6 sharp."

Hitesh and I were up at 5 and by 5.45 we were knocking at Mr Pawar's door.

There was no one in the bungalow except for security personnel.

I reminded a gent who responded to our knocks that our interview with Mr Pawar was scheduled for 6.

Within two minutes, a man dressed in a spotless white kurta-pyjama opened the door of the front room.

Ajit Pawar.

The interview began on the dot, at 6 am.

'Ajit Dada insisted on called me Firdausji'

"How should I address you?" Mr Pawar asked. "Syedji or Firdausji?"

Syed, I told Mr Pawar, was my surname and Firdaus was my name. He said he would call me Firdausji.

He told us he had come home at 1 and got up in time for the 6 am interview.

"To be a successful politician," he said, "one needs to sleep less, and that is why I never sleep for more than 4 hours."

And since it was election time, he had slept for only 3 hours that night,

He spoke of how the Mahayuti (the Bharatiya Janata Party+Shiv Sena+Nationalist Congress Party) of which he was part of would sweep the Maharashtra assembly elections.

His confidence arose from the fact that in spite of getting drubbed in the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra the vote difference between the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (the Congress+Shiv Sena [UBT] + NCP [Sharad Pawar]) was only 0.5 percent.

He spoke about the BJP's 'Batenge Toh Katenge' slogan and insisted that the Mahayuti government had given a riot-free Maharashtra.

Mr Pawar was confident that Laadki Bahin scheme would be a game-changer for the Mahayuti and he was proved right when the results came in, with the Mahayuti winning 233 out of Maharashtra's 288 seats.

After the interview ended, he told us how he loved to roam the streets of Baramati early in the morning and see to the watering of plants on the streets.

He had ensured that every street corner in Baramati was covered with greenery.