The prestige battle of Baramati in Maharashtra has the NCP’s Ajit Pawar in the lead over his nephew and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar leader) Yugendra Pawar.
The contest is very important for the 65-year-old Ajit Pawar – who split the Sharad Pawar-led NCP last year and walked across the aisle to the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) coalition – because of his wife Sunetra Pawar’s loss to his cousin Supriya Sule in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat earlier this year.
Baramati is a stronghold of the Pawar family.
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This year’s Maharashtra Assembly elections are a battle of survival for both factions of the NCP, who are out to prove that they have the support of voters. The Lok Sabha polls were a setback for the Ajit Pawar group, which had managed to win only one out of the four seats it had contested. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP had, however, put up a dominant show and won eight of the 10 constituencies it had put up candidates in, emerging as the party with the best strike rate in the state.
The stupendous performance had prompted the Sharad Pawar-led group to proclaim that it was the real NCP despite the Ajit Pawar faction being given the original name and symbol of the party. In a few short months since the Lok Sabha results in June, however, the ruling Mahayuti seems to have gained momentum on the back of schemes like the Ladki Behen yojana and the contest between the two NCPs was seen to be a much closer one this time.
Ahead of the Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar had reiterated that it was a mistake to field his wife against Supriya Sule but maintained that he would “100 per cent” secure his seat.
“It was my mistake to field her against Supriya Sule, I have told you again and again. It is over now. On November 20 there is an election in Maharashtra and the voters will decide in whose hands Maharashtra should be given for five years. We are paying more attention to that,” Mr Pawar had told NDTV.
Yugendra Pawar, 32, who made his political debut in these elections, had said it was unfortunate that he was contesting against his own uncle.
“This was unfortunate but all of us in the family decided that we need to stay with Pawar sahab (Sharad Pawar) because he is the founder of the NCP, he is the patriarch of the family and it is because of him that not only Baramati but everybody around also prospered,” the younger Pawar had said.
‘Time For A New Generation’
Sharad Pawar had also made a strong, emotional pitch for his grandnephew and said it was time for a new generation to take over.
“In 1967, you made me the MLA from Baramati. I went on to become a minister and then the chief minister. After that, Ajit dada was given an opportunity to serve you as a representative of the new generation. He worked here for 20 to 25 years. The party gave him opportunities,” the 83-year-old had told voters in Baramati.
“He was made deputy chief minister, not once, twice, but three times (in Congress-NCP governments). He also worked. I have no complaints. But what should we do next? First, it was my generation, later it was Ajit dada and now the next generation is of Yugendra Pawar,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.
