Baramati, where a mother of all electoral battles is being witnessed in Maharashtra, experienced emotional moments on Monday, as NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar made it a point to be with his grandnephew Yugendra Pawar, as the latter filed his nomination to fight the November 20 Assembly polls against his uncle and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
On a day when a remorseful Ajit Pawar also filed his nominations for the State Assembly polls, Sr Pawar, his four-time MP and NCP (SP) working president- daughter Supriya Sule and his other family members made it a point to be 32-year-old Yugendra’s side when he took out a procession to file his papers to take on his uncle in the poll.
Ajit Pawar is a seven-time MLA, while the US-educated professional Yugendra is debutant in electoral politics. Yugendra is the son of Ajit Pawar's younger brother Sriniwas Pawar.
Speaking on the occasion, 83- year-old Pawar expressed confidence that the people of Baramati would elect his grandnephew Yugendra with a huge margin of votes against his estranged nephew Ajit Pawar.
“I have known the people of Baramati very well since 1965… I have full confidence in them… The gen-next and others will extend their support to Yugendra,” Sharad Pawar said.
Supriya, who had defeated cousin Ajit Pawar’s wife and her sister-in-law Sunetra by a huge margin of 1.58 lakh votes in the polls in the Baramati Lok Sabha polls – said: “It’s truly another emotional moment for us. It has never been a personal fight for me. Even when I contested the Lok Sabha elections I said the same thing. It is never a personal fight for me. We work for larger cause,
On his part, Yugendra said: "This was unfortunate but all of us in the family decided that we need to stay with Sharad Pawar Sahab 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.”
Meanwhile, Ajitdada – as Ajit Pawar is known in the State political circles -- was accompanied by his two sons, Parth and Jay, when he filed his nomination for the State Assembly polls.
Asking about the NCP (SP)’s decision to field nephew Yugendra against him, Ajit Pawar said: "Everyone has the right to contest. Whenever any candidate is fielded against me I take him or her as a strong candidate and campaign accordingly. This time too, the people of Baramati will elect me and I have faith in them"
Ajitdada reiterated that he had made a “mistake” of fielding his wife Sunetra Pawar against his cousin Supriya Sule in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
“I did a mistake by fielding my wife Sunetra Pawar against my sister Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha polls…I did a mistake…they should not have repeated the mistake…its now up to the people to decide,” an emotional Ajitdada said. Ir may be recalled that he had made a similar statement on August 13, 2024.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar appealed to the people across the state to support the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and contribute to the change of government in Maharashtra
“This is not a question for just Baramati, but for the entire Maharashtra. I have toured almost all the districts in the past few months. In the 2024 Lok Sabha, the people supported Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in a big way. MVA won 31 of the 48 LS seats, and I am grateful to the people from the depths of my heart,” the senior-most Pawar said
“I have full faith in the people. We have kept up the tempo of the LS elections even for the Assembly polls. We are working for unity and unanimity in all seats being contested by the MVA,” the NCP (SP) chief said.
