He rejoined the mainstream Congress, by then led by Rajiv Gandhi, in December 1986. He described it as a great relief — he had spent nearly six years in the political wilderness! Meanwhile, Mrs Gandhi had been assassinated in 1984; within the month, Pawar’s mentor, Y.B. Chavan, too died. In fact, after Rajiv became prime minister, Pawar had not only kept his distance but also remained in the Opposition Club, one reason perhaps that many Congress “loyalists” distrusted him then and do so still.

Soon after joining the Rajiv-led Congress, he worked his way to become chief minister, again, in 1988, exactly 10 years after the PDF experiment. But soon Rajiv was embroiled in the Bofors controversy, followed quickly by the Ayodhya issue. V.P. Singh’s totally unexpected betrayal and Rajiv’s naive response to him (“you too, Brutus”) had created a storm of confusion in the party rank and file, with the Raja trying to usurp the Mr Clean image. Rajiv lost the election in 1989, mainly because he failed to politically deal with this storm.

Though he was chief minister, he could not establish a credible relationship with Rajiv and, as reports then clearly suggested, the Congress high command itself gave the green signal for a rebellion against Pawar, which almost brought his chief ministership to the brink. He survived, but more because in New Delhi another toppling game had begun. Then-PM Chandra Shekhar had started getting into difficulties. Rajiv called off the rebellion against Pawar. Within two months Chandra Shekhar fell and elections were announced. Pawar was panicky. He felt that after the parliamentary elections, he would be asked to quit. But destiny had something else planned. Rajiv was killed mid-campaign and the political landscape changed.

... contd.