BARAMATI constituency, the home turf of Sharad Pawar, is set for a high-profile battle, with the Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday fielding Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, against her sister-in-law and the Pawar senior’s daughter Supriya Sule. In her first reaction, Sunetra Pawar, 60, said this was a lucky day for her. “I thank Narendra Modiji, Amit Shah, and all leaders of Mahayuti (Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP) for considering me capable of fighting the election,” Sunetra Pawar told a Marathi news channel. “Voters have taken the fight in their hands,” she said when asked about facing off with Sule. The announcement of her candidature was made by Maharashtra NCP unit president Sunil Tatkare, hours after the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) declared its first list of five candidates for Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra. The NCP(SP) retained Supriya Sule from Baramati and fielded Nilesh Lanke, who switched sides from the Ajit Pawar camp, from the Ahmednagar constituency.

 

Among the five names declared by the Sharad Pawar camp are sitting MP Amol Kolhe (Shirur constituency), Bhaskar Bhagre (Dindori), and former Congress MLA Amar Kale (Wardha). Bhagre will square off against Union Minister and sitting BJP MP Bharati Pawar in Dindori (ST) seat. Lanke, the sitting MLA from Parner, will face off against BJP MP Sujay Vikhe Patil from the Ahmednagar constituency. Meanwhile, Tatkare said the battle in Baramati is of ideology and principles, and not a family one. With Sunetra Pawar, a novice in electoral politics, in the field, Baramati is set to witness a first-of-its-kind Pawar versus Pawar battle, post the split in the party founded by the Pawar senior in 1999. The real fight lies between Ajit Pawar, who joined the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government last July, and his uncle Sharad Pawar, a wily and battle-hardened politician.

 

The Baramati Lok Sabha constituency includes six Assembly segments — Baramati town, Indapur, Daund, Purandar, Bhor and Khadakwasla. Bhor and Purandar Assembly segments are with Congress, Baramati and Indapur were won by NCP (undivided), while BJP represents Daund and Khadakwasala. Sharad Pawar has won the Baramati LS constituency multiple times in the past. He has a committed voter base and enjoys immense goodwill among people. In the 2019 elections, Supriya Sule scored a hat-trick of winning the Baramati constituency as NCP nominee. Even before Sunetra Pawar’s name was formally announced, she had started campaigning and meeting various social groups. On the other hand, to guard his home turf, Sharad Pawar recently visited the family of Congress legislator Sangram Thopte and met his father Anantrao Thopte, an old rival. NCP (SP), part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), also comprising Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress, will contest 10 seats in Maharashtra, which sends 48 members to Lok Sabha