In Baramati, the Pawars battle it out for supremacy
NCP (SP) candidate for Baramati, Supriya Sule, during her campaign in Jejuri.
s the 83-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar takes on his nephew, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, for control of Baramati, which goes to the polls on May 7, the paterfamilias of the Pawar family and Maharashtra’s politics faces the toughest contest of his life.
Mr. Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule (the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi’s candidate and incumbent Baramati MP), is pitted against Mr. Ajit’s wife, Sunetra Pawar (the ruling Mahayuti’s candidate), and the contest is leavened with high political drama which has seen bitter foes turning into overnight friends across the six Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha constituency.
On paper, the arithmetic seems to favour Mr. Ajit and the Mahayuti as his ‘palace revolution’ in July last year, which split the NCP founded by his uncle in 1999, has completely upset the political balance in Baramati.
As a result, Mr. Sharad Pawar (and Ms. Sule) today has no MLA in the NCP (SP) camp. The father and daughter are dependent on the goodwill of their Maha Vikas Aghadi ally, the Congress, which holds the Bhor and Purandar segments.
Khadakwasla, which has the largest concentration of voters (4.7 lakh), is rmly in the grip of the ruling BJP. So is the Daund Assembly segment, whose legislator is the BJP’s Rahul Kul.
His wife, Kanchan Kul, was the saron party’s candidate in the 2019 general election. While Ms. Sule coasted to victory with a comfortable margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes, Ms. Kul performed creditably, garnering more than 40% of the vote share as opposed to Ms. Sule’s 52%.
Both Khadakwasla and Daund had voted against Ms. Sule (and the NCP) in the last election.
This leaves the other two Assembly segments — Baramati and neighbouring Indapur, both totally dominated by Mr. Ajit.
Last time, it was Mr. Ajit, as Ms. Sule’s “campaign manager” in the undivided NCP, who had ensured a lead of 1.25 lakh votes for his cousin from the key Baramati Assembly segment alone. (Mr. Ajit has been an MLA from Baramati a record seven times since 1991).
This time around, Mr. Ajit, along with the BJP top brass and the NDA alliance, have thrown their full weight behind Ms. Sunetra.
A key region in western Maharashtra, Baramati has its politics revolving round in¡uential sugar barons and political clans in this region.
Given the intense rivalry between the Pawar family and other prominent political families here, Mr. Ajit and the Mahayuti gained considerable success in mending fences with old rivals.
According to observers, a defeat for Ms. Sunetra would pose a big question mark on Mr. Ajit’s political future in Mahayuti.
If Ms. Sule loses, it would mean the twilight of Baramati’s idol — Mr. Sharad.
Either way, the last verse of this Homeric tussle between the Pawars has yet to be written.
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