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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

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...

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 A jit 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.

Knives out in legislature

Updated: Mar 21, 2025

Disha Salian

Mumbai: Death of celebrity manager Disha Salian in 2020 once again rocked the Maharashtra legislature on Thursday. While cabinet ministers Nitesh Rane and Shambhuraj Desai demanded that Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray be arrested in the case, BJP MLA Amit Satam in the assembly and another BJP member Chitra Wagh in the council demanded that the report of SIT to probe Salian’s death be made public.


Incidentally, amidst repeated disruptions in both the houses, some members from the treasury benches were seen speaking in favour of Aditya Thackeray, while Shiv Sena (UBT) members like Adv Anil Parab were seen supporting the BJP members’ demand that the report of the SIT probe be made public. In addition, there were allegations and counter allegations and personal accusations among members from the treasury and opposition benches which led to heated debate on occasions.


The opposition termed the attempts from the treasury benches to link Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray’s name in the case, as a ‘conspiracy’.


“I think this matter has gone to the court. We have no idea what he (Disha’s father) has said, but Aaditya Thackeray is a mature leader, a young leader. The Bharatiya Janata Party is conspiring to defame him by putting pressure on him. We don’t need to answer to this conspiracy. The court will answer,” Ambadas Danve said.


Earlier in the day, when the house gathered for the business, Minister of State for Home appraised the assembly of the status in this case. “SIT has been formed to probe in the case. Their report has not been received as yet. However, the government shall act according to directives from the court,” the minister told the house.


Another BJP minister Nitesh Rane, however, said that since Satish Salian has levelled allegations against an MVA minister, that leader be treated like a common person and that everybody should be treated equally before the law. Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai too supported the demand. “Since the allegations are grave, the person in question should be immediately arrested and the case be investigated,” he said.


Later, while speaking to media in the legislature premises, Rane asked Uddhav Thackeray to come clean on the issue. “If they say that we are politicizing the issue, Uddhav Thackeray should also tell the people why he had called, not just once but twice, to the then union minister Narayan Rane urging him to save his son?” Rane said.


He also accused the opposition of shying away from coming clean on the issue. “If they feel that we are not telling the truth, they should say so in the house. But they are shying away from doing so. Bhaskar Jadhav, who is always aggressive, was nowhere to be seen when this issue came up in the house. Sunil Prabhu too escaped the house under the pretext of a phone call. I challenge them to say that whatever I said on the issue is wrong,” Rane said.


He also said that Aditya Thackeray should resign on moral grounds till his name is cleared in the case.


BJP MLA Amit Satam demanded that the details of the SIT probe be made public so that the people would know if the probe is headed in right direction.


Interestingly, while the ruling parties were targeting the opposition in the case, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar surprised all with his unexpected support to Thackerays. “I do not have any evidences in the case. But if her father has made any fresh allegations that needs to be investigated thoroughly. The assembly can discuss the issue at length tomorrow. In the meanwhile, members like Rane, who seem to have some evidences in the case should hand them over to the investigating agencies and help the probe,” he told the house.


Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Gaikwad and Sheetal Mhatre too toed the line and demanded that more and more evidences should come forth.


Similarly, when members of treasury benches were pushing for revealing the details of the probe till date to the public, Shiv Sena (UBT) member Anil Parab supported the demand. “Doing that shall conclusively prove the innocence of Aditya Thackeray,” he said.

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