In a public admission of an error for the second time in less than a week in the run-up to the forthcoming State Assembly polls, Maharashtra deputy chief minister and NCP (AP) Ajit Pawar has said that he had made a “mistake” of fielding his wife Sunetra Pawar against his cousin Supriya Sule in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Within days after going to town admitting that the Centre’s move to ban onion export late last year was a mistake which cost the ruling MahaYuti dearly in the recently Lok Sabha polls, Ajit Pawar pushed the BJP-led state government’s women-oriented flagship scheme “Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana” by admitting his mistake of mixing politics with family.
The ruling MahaYuti – comprising BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) is banking heavily on the “Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana” populist scheme in the State Assembly polls to be held in October this year. The scheme is aimed at providing financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to women in the state.
Speaking to a Marathi news channel during his ongoing people outreach programme “Jan Samman Yatra”, Ajit Pawar expressed his regret over mixing politics with family in matters relating to his decision to field his wife Sunetra as a candidate against his cousin and sitting NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in the recent Lok Sabha polls from the family pocket-borough of Baramati constituency.
"Politics should not be allowed to enter the home, where I made a mistake. I should not have fielded Sunetra against my sister," the NCP (AP) chief said.
The contest between Supriya and Sunetra Pawar was the talking point of the Lok Sabha polls. Supriya, a sitting MP and daughter of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, trounced her sister-in-law Sunetra by a margin of 1.58 lakh votes in the polls in the Baramati poll, Supriya polled 7,32,312 votes, Sunetra secured 5,73,979 votes. It is another matter that after her defeat, the NCP (AP) sent Sunetra to Rajya Sabha in the RS by-poll held in June this year.
Ajit Pawar’s expression of remorse comes four days after Ajit Pawar apologised to the people, particularly women, for the Centre’s decision to ban the onion export in December last year, a decision that had an adverse impact on the onion growing farmers in the state.
Interacting with farmers, women, and traditional Maharashtrian “paithani saree” weavers at Niphad in Nashik district, a major onion production hub, Ajit Pawar said: “I admit that onion export ban was a mistake. I apologise for that mistake. There will be no onion export ban again. I have told the central government and we in the state government have agreed that there will be no ban on onion export,” Pawar said.
Seeking to keep the women voters in the state in good humour, Ajit Pawar—who also holds the State Finance portfolio – announced that the first instalment of Rs 1,500 under the “Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana” will be released to women across Maharashtra on August 17.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling ‘Mahayuti’ (grand alliance) put up a poor performance by winning just 17 out of 48 seats (BJP-9, Eknath Shinded-headed Shiv Sena -7 and Ajit Pawar-led NCP --1), as against 31 seats won collectively the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
During the ongoing “Jan Samman Yatra”, Ajit Pawar is attempting to win back the support of the aggrieved vote banks like farmers and women by talking about the MahaYuti government’s recently-announced populist schemes.
The MahaYuti schemes like the “Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana”, “Annapurna Yojana”, “Baliraja Vij Savlat Yojana”, “Yuva Karya Prashikshan Yojana” and the Rs 5,000 per hectare bonus scheme for cotton and soya-bean farmers are drawing traction from the beneficiary sections like women and farmers.
