If the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Baramati Supriya Sule was summed up as “once bitten, twice shy” for the hard work she did to retain the seat, the 2024 scenario looks different after schism in the party.
This time, Sule is being challenged on the home turf by none other than her cousin Ajit Pawar with the latter holding more clout at the ground level.
For two days during the weekend, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar held multiple meetings in Baramati and appealed to various sections of the society to vote for the candidate fielded by him in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and ignore senior Pawar’s emotional appeal of last election.
As his remarks triggered a row with rival NCP camp taking on Ajit by calling the remarks “insensitive”, the deputy CM on Monday said that his statement was misinterpreted by some to take political mileage.
“What I said yesterday was misinterpreted…I have expressed this opinion before, but some people try to use senior leaders for their own politics. They will not know these things. I have expressed my feelings about them from time to time although some have the habit of misinterpreting even as I don’t care about such theatrics. I am saying this so that common people should know my feelings,” said Ajit Pawar in a post on X.
The NCP workers close to Ajit said that the deputy chief minister gave clear instructions to workers to ensure their candidate’s victory and put breaks to uncle Sharad Pawar’s politics.
“Ajit dada is very firm on winning Baramati this time and he has been reiterating the same to workers and electorate,” said a worker close to the deputy chief minister, who while addressing workers in Baramati had said, “I do not know when some people are going to stop. There might be a sentimental appeal that this would be the last election, but you don’t fall prey to it and vote for the candidate I will be fielding.”
For Ajit, winning Baramati is crucial for his faction of NCP. After rebelling from the party and joining ranks with the BJP-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) government in the state, Ajit is planning to take full control over the party by striking hard in Baramati to stop Sharad Pawar’s politics as the town stands tall as a shining example of NCP founder’s multi-faceted development initiatives in rural parts.
For the same reason, Baramati Lok Sabha constituency is likely to become one of the most high-profile contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with speculations that Ajit may field either his wife Sunetra or elder son Parth against Supriya. Both Sunetra and Parth have in the recent past increased their visits to Baramati and have been meeting party workers.
Reacting to Ajit’s Sunday’s remarks, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) legislator from Karjat Jamkhed Rohit Pawar said, “Looking at Ajit dada’s recent statements, he looked completely different to us. In the next few days, Ajit dada is most likely to field a member of his family for Baramati Lok Sabha seat to contest polls against Sule.”
For many elections in the past, the BJP tried its best to defeat the Pawars on their home turn with little success so far. However, this is for the first time that the BJP has Ajit Pawar on its side and the nephew has already made it clear he will retain Baramati seat for party candidate to fight polls during seat sharing talks with the alliance.
As Ajit has given clear message to the workers of fighting polls, it may not be an easy election for Sule, a three-time MP, with the senior Pawar also likely to concentrate on Baramati more.
Earlier on contesting polls against Ajit’s candidate, Supriya had last month said, “In democracy everyone has a right to contest the elections. It is clear that there will be someone who will contest against us, but we will concentrate on our work and voters will take the decision.”
Baramati, from where Ajit is being elected as a legislator for the past three decades, has maximum share in NCP’s (both factions) larger political messaging. Of the four Lok Sabha seats that the NCP won in 2019, including Baramati, Raigad, Shirur, and Satara, Pawar’s hometown plays crucial role in its narrative as “development oriented” party.
The senior Pawar was first elected from Baramati in 1967 and since then till 2009, he has represented this seat either in the state assembly or the Lok Sabha. After Pawar decided to move away from electoral politics, his daughter Supriya has been representing it.
During 2019, the BJP had put up all its might to defeat Sule but her hard work paid off and the margin of her victory increased from around 70,000 votes in 2014 to 1.54 lakh. It was in 2014, Rashtriya Samaj Party Mahadev Jankar had given her a tough fight, raising BJP’s hope that Baramati can also be won.
This time, the BJP sent finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the Baramati constituency last year for two days and asked her to visit each assembly segment to conduct various meetings to improve party’s chances. However, the changed political equations in the state is likely to prompt the BJP to leave Baramati for the Ajit Pawar camp.