Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar lost the Lok Sabha election from family turf Baramati but is still set to become an MP.
The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to nominate her for a Rajya Sabha seat, overlooking the ambitions of a few other leaders, which has caused some heartburn.
The Rajya Sabha by-election has been necessitated due to the resignation of Praful Patel after he was re-elected to the Upper House from another seat in February. The election will be held on 26 June.
राज्यसभा निवडणुकीसाठी राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पार्टीच्या वतीने सौ. सुनेत्रावहिनी अजितदादा पवार यांनी आज विधानभवनात आपला उमेदवारी अर्ज दाखल केला. यावेळी पक्षाचे राष्ट्रीय कार्याध्यक्ष मा. खा. प्रफुल पटेल, प्रदेशाध्यक्ष मा. खा. सुनिल तटकरे, ज्येष्ठ नेते तथा मंत्री ना. छगन भुजबळ,… pic.twitter.com/utnf15aUlw
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Party leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal, Anand Paranjape, Baba Siddiqui and even Parth Pawar —Ajit Pawar’s son — were keen on getting the nomination for the seat, NCP sources said.
Bhujbal, who was sulking after he gave up his claim on the Nashik Lok Sabha constituency that the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena wanted to contest within the Mahayuti alliance, expressed reservations about the party’s choice for the Rajya Sabha at a late-night meeting of senior leaders and ministers at Ajit Pawar’s official residence in Mumbai, a party source said.
However, speaking to reporters Thursday, Bhujbal denied he was upset. He said, “There were many contenders. I was also interested. I was hoping that I would get the seat, but after discussions we took a unanimous decision to nominate Sunetra tai Pawar. I am not upset.”
“Everyone took the decision to nominate her. Everyone has to accept the party’s decision. I am not an Independent…,” he added.
The Rajya Sabha election
Elections to six Rajya Sabha seats were held in February and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP had to declare one candidate in accordance with its strength in the legislature.
Pawar surprised everyone by picking Patel, who was already a Rajya Sabha member with more than four years to go for his term to end. Party sources said there were many contenders at the time and the NCP didn’t want any upsets heading into the Lok Sabha elections.
It turned out that the party simply delayed taking a decision on this conundrum.
Sunetra filed her nomination for the bypoll Thursday afternoon in the presence of leaders like Patel, newly elected Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare, state cabinet minister Bhujbal and Narhari Zirwal, deputy speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
While Bhujbal was present, a video from the event shows Tatkare pulling Bhujbal’s hand, drawing him closer to the rest of the leaders as Sunetra handed over her nomination form to Jitendra Bhole, secretary of the state legislature.
Sunetra, a debutante in politics, lost the just-concluded Lok Sabha election from Baramati to her sister-in-law and NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule. Sule won the parliamentary election for the fourth consecutive time with a wide margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes.
Ajit Pawar split the NCP last July to join Maharashtra’s ruling alliance, the Mahayuti, the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Shinde, too, had parted ways with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena in June 2022 to form the present government with BJP help.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Bhujbal said all decisions in the party were taken by Ajit Pawar, Patel and Tatkare.
“Ajit dada Pawar is the party president. Praful Patel ji is the national executive president, Tatkare is state president. I am just a neta, a karyakarta of the party. It is not about seniority. Three people are leading the party, so they will take the decisions,” he said.
Bhujbal, however, added that he was not overlooked.
“I was invited for yesterday’s meetings so how am I being overlooked?” he told reporters.
Bhujbal was said to be unhappy after the Nashik Lok Sabha seat went to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The Mahayuti lost the seat and posted a dismal performance in Maharashtra, winning just 17 of the state’s 48 constituencies. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP got just one.
Soon after the elections, Bhujbal asked Ajit Pawar to contest in 80-90 of Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seats for the state polls, which are just four months away.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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