The Gandhis never really trusted him, nor did he have any loyalty to them. His ’99 revolt over the issue of Sonia’s foreign origin was merely a reflection of that absence of trust. In the last seven years, Pawar has blown hot and cold, sometimes hobnobbing with the BJP and sometimes with the third front. But somehow, he has not been successful in recreating the sort of formation he achieved in Maharashtra in ’78. His unabashed ambition and manoeuvres have further distanced him from his own partymen. There is so much discontent in his NCP today that nobody in the state would be surprised if his party splits.

Pawar’s politics has therefore to be seen as part of an attempt to reverse this erosion.