The two feuding NCP factions, led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, are preparing to battle it out for the prestigious Baramati Lok Sabha seat, a pocket borough of Sr Pawar and his daughter-MP Supriya Sule, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Fresh from the superlative performance during the Gram Panchayat (GP) elections in which his faction bagged109 Gram Panchayat (GP) seats out of a total 231 seats followed among others by Sr Pawar-led NCP (27) in Pune district, Ajit Pawar set the stage for a battle royale between the two NCP factions for the Baramati Lok Sabha polls.
Speaking at the party’s “Chintan Shibir” at Karjat in Raigad district, deputy chief minister and chief of the NCP faction headed by him Ajit Pawar said on Friday that his party would contest four seats — Baramati, Shirur, Satara and Raigad — as part of the ruling “Maha Yuti” (grand alliance) in the 2024 lok Sabha polls.
“We have had preliminary discussions with the leaders of our alliance partners -the Eknath Shinde-headed Shiv Sena and BJP. We will take a final decision after holding discussions with Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis (of the BJP),” Ait Pawar said.
Picking up the gauntlet thrown by her cousin Ajit Pawar, Supriya said that she welcomed the decision taken by the rival NCP faction to field a candidate against her. “ I am Indian and Maharashtrian who has full faith in democratic system. That being the case, any political party has the right to decide from which constituency it would put up a candidate. Who will contest from where is an internal of Maha-Yuti. From the bottom of my heart, I welcome the rival decision to field a candidate from Baramati,” Supriya said.
Sharad Pawar is a six-term Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, Supriya Supe is a three-term MP from Baramati.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Supriya was elected from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency for the third consecutive term.
Supriya trounced BJP candidate Kanchan R. Kool by a margin of 1,57,000 votes. Supriya polled 6,50,000 votes as against 493,000 votes secured by her rival candidate Kanchan.
It may be recalled that in the Gram Panchayat polls witnessed recently in the politically important Katewadi Gram Panchayat in Baramati taluka of Pune district, the Ajit Pawar-led ruling NCP won 14 out of total 16 seats, while its alliance partner BJP secured two remaining seats.
Katewadi forms a part of the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency represented by the Sharad Pawar family over five decades now. While Ajit Pawar is a one-term Lok Sabha MP from Baramati and for Baramati MLA for seven times, Supriya Supe is a three-term MP from Baramati.
In the overall Gram Panchayat elections in Pune district — of which Baramati Lok Sabha constituency is a part, is faction bagged 109 Gram Panchayat (GP) seats out of a total 231 seats followed among others by Sr Pawar-led NCP (27) in Pune district.