"I Erred By Pitting Wife Sunetra Against Sister Supriya In The LS Polls," Says NCP Chief Ajit Pawar

Maharashtra’s ruling coalition constituent Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar expressed regret for pitting his wife Sunetra Pawar as the party’s candidate for the Baramati Lok Sabha Constituency against his sister Supriya Sule in the recently held Lok Sabha 2024 polls.

“I love all my sisters. One should never allow politics to enter homes. Politics should be practiced anywhere except against family members. I made a mistake by fielding my wife Sunetra against my sister Supriya as the Lok Sabha candidate in Baramati.

“This could have been avoided. However, since it was a decision made by the parliamentary committee of our party, I had to abide by the decision. In hindsight, I feel I was wrong,” NCP chief Pawar said in an interview to a regional news channel on Tuesday (August 13).

In a poll fight which was watched closely nationwide, Sule – daughter of the octogenarian politician Sharad Pawar, retained the Baramati Lok Sabha seat as a candidate of the newly formed Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) for the fourth time in a row.

Ajit Pawar usurping control of the undivided NCP of the past from Sule’s father Pawar senior and fielding his wife against Sule in the Pawar family's home turf Baramati is said to have not gone down well with the rural voters from the Maratha community who have high regard for the bonds of kinship and blood relations.

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This is also the widely cited reason behind Ajit Pawar's NCP winning only one Lok Sabha seat out of four it had contested against an impressive strike rate of his uncle Senior Pawar-led NCP SP winning eight out of ten seats it had contested.

In their campaign in favour of Sule during the Lok Sabha polls, NCP-SP leaders had portrayed Ajit Pawar as someone who can go to any extent to further his personal interests, including pitting family members against each other in politics.

To brush aside such characterisation and entice the voters, especially women, Ajit Pawar has been now touring different parts of the state through his party's Jana-Samvad Yatra.

As a part of this campaign launched with an eye on the upcoming state assembly polls, the NCP chief has adopted pink as the dominant colour in his apparels and in his rally venues, supposedly to indicate that he was committed to the cause of women empowerment.

This is apart from his speeches which highlight his efforts in the ideation and implementation of the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana under which a monthly handout of Rs 1,500 will be given to all women from below poverty line families. The first installment under this scheme is expected to be released on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan (August 19), a festival which celebrates the brother – sister bond.

In one of his rally speeches in the ongoing campaign, Ajit Pawar also said that his party and the ruling Mahayuti coalition could have performed better in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had avoided criticising his political rival and uncle Pawar senior.

"I had advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to avoid making personal remarks against Saheb (that is, Sharad Pawar) as he is senior and is respected by a large number of masses in the state, irrespective of their political inclinations.

"However, they (that is, PM Modi and Shah) did not take my words seriously. As a result, Saheb and his party (that is, NCP-SP) gained sympathy of the voters," NCP chief Ajit Pawar said.