Another battle between Pawars on card

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly

Mumbai: Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender.

The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM Ajit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in which even bigwigs from the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) participated.

As the voting progressed, certain remarks from both NCP (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar and his cousin Jay A. Pawar, son of Sunetra, indicated that the future of Baramati politics would remain family-dominated, at least till the next Assembly elections in 2029.

Accompanying his mom to the polling centre, Jay claimed that pressure was mounting on him from the commoners and NCP workers urging him to contest the Baramati elections after 3 years.

People’s Desire

“It’s the demand from the party activists and the desire of the people that I should be a candidate in 2029. But from my heart, I wish to continue working as an ordinary party worker and serve everyone,” said Jay, hinting that he would be a reluctant contestant while sparking a mini-row.

Predicting a record voter turnout and a victory margin for his mother, he appealed to the voters to support Sunetra as enthusiastically as they had supported his father, the late Ajit Pawar in the past.

Quickly reacting to Jay’s utterances, Rohit also hinted at the likelihood of a face-off between family members in the next Assembly polls.

“We should heed the sentiments of the party workers and the people… Their party (NCP) is different from our (NCP-SP) party,” Rohit said, making it clear that political loyalties would remain separate despite close family ties.

Yugendra vs Jay

In the eventuality of Jay being fielded by the NCP in 2029, Rohit suggested that another cousin, Yugendra S. Pawar – son of Shrinivas A. Pawar, and nephew of Ajit Pawar – could be a prospective rival from the NCP (SP) – making it another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ poll duel.

Baramati Assembly and Lok Sabha seats have in the past witnessed politically charged electoral battles between different family members of the Pawar clan, he reminded.

Nevertheless, Rohit also admitted how the masses frowned at such intra-family contests – as in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - which divided virtually all families in Baramati while Sunetra Pawar and her ‘nanad’ Supriya Sule slugged it out at the hustings.

“It is not the desire of the people to see another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ fight… There are certain political forces opposed to the Pawar Family which seem keen to foment such divisive contests and weaken its influence here,” Rohit declared.

Keeping the door ajar for a reconciliation between the NCP(SP)-NCP, he said it would be opposed, but the views of the workers, elected representatives and family members tend to complicate the issues, as ‘withdrawing from power’ is not an easy option – making it clear that both the parties would function independently at least for the present.

Shrinivas Pawar reprimands cousins

The statements by the cousins Jay and Rohit evoked sharp response from Shrinivas A. Pawar who pulled them up for raising decisive yet divisive futuristic issues during the polling today.

“What was the need to say all this now? Today is important and everyone has come out for ‘Dada’ (Ajit A. Pawar)… We must all remain united,” emphasised Shrinivas A. Pawar.

Chiding the younger cousin-siblings, Shrinivas said that “if you are aware that people don’t prefer such intra-family contests, why don’t you sit together and resolve these issues”.

Baramati, Rahuri see 50 pc voting

Bypoll to the Baramati assembly seat in Maharashtra's Pune district, where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Sunetra Pawar was in the fray, recorded a voter turnout of around 50 per cent till 5 pm on Thursday, officials said.

The voting percentage in Rahuri assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, which also saw a bypoll, was 50.74 per cent, they said.

Voting, which began at 7 am, concluded at 6 pm.

The Rahuri assembly seat became vacant after BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile's death in October last year. His son Akshay Kardile was in the fray as a BJP candidate from the seat, and was pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Santosh Chalke.