In yet another tussle within the Pawar family in Baramati, the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions are likely to pit family members against each other in the upcoming Assembly polls.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is the incumbent Baramati MLA, stated on Thursday that he was “not interested” in contesting elections anymore. “I have contested elections seven to eight times so far. I do not have much interest in contesting elections again. If our party workers demand that Jay (Pawar) be fielded, then we will consider it. The parliamentary board and the local party unit in Baramati will decide the candidate for Baramati,” the NCP chief said when asked about the possibility of his younger son contesting the Assembly elections.
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On the other hand, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) is likely to field Yugendra Pawar for the Baramati Assembly seat. Yugendra is the son of Ajit’s younger brother, Srinivas Pawar. Srinivas sided with his uncle Sharad Pawar during the Lok Sabha elections and criticised Ajit for fielding his wife, Sunetra Pawar, against Supriya Sule, turning it into a contest within the family.
Recently, a video went viral on social media showing a group of NCP (SP) workers urging Sharad Pawar to give the candidature to Yugendra. “It is our wish that dada (Yugendra) should be given candidature,” a party worker said, while another worker asked Sharad Pawar to “give Yugendra strength” as they supported him. “Looking at his work during the Lok Sabha elections, he should be given the ticket from Baramati,” said one worker, adding that Yugendra addressed the issue of water scarcity in some areas of Baramati.
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Meanwhile, if Jay gets the ticket, he will be the fourth member of Ajit Pawar’s family to enter active politics. Ajit’s wife Sunetra, who lost the Lok Sabha polls, is a Rajya Sabha member. His elder son Parth, who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Maval constituency but lost to Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne by a huge margin, is currently focussing on the party’s organisational work.
Notably, Rohit Pawar, an NCP (SP) MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed and grand-nephew of Sharad Pawar, recently claimed that someone from the family who is close to Ajit Pawar could be fielded against him.
“The Mahayuti (coalition of BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP) is going to field candidates in my constituency to split votes. It was speculated that Ajit Pawar was under pressure to field someone from the family against Supriya Sule. Now, a similar strategy is being drawn up in my assembly constituency,” he had said.
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(With input from agencies)
