Lok Sabha polls: Baramati big battle looms as Supriya Sule versus Sunetra Pawar buzz grows
Maharashtra Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was asked if his faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will put up a candidate from the Lok Sabha constituency of Baramati, the pocket borough of the Pawar clan, against his the cousin Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule, who is the sitting MP, he said, «Being the president of the party, I have the right to announce the candidates of my party, but I cannot comment on who will be contesting against them. I will announce the names of the candidates at the right time.»
The name hasn't been announced yet but the buzz is Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar will be contesting against Sule. The fight, if it happens, will take the divide in the Pawar clan down to the family stronghold from where Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Supriya Pawar have won several assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Early this month, the Election Commission of India declared Ajit Pawar's faction, which had split away last year from patriarch Pawar and joined hands with the BJP, as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
When Ajit Pawar had broken away from NCP last year, Sule had said that ideological differences led to the split in NCP but there was no divide in the Pawar family. «Some leaders in the party chose a different path based on certain ideology but it is an issue related to the party and not the family. NCP is not the Pawar family. The ideological differences are in the party and not in the family,» said Sule.
Ajit Pawar hinted at fielding his wife Sunetra as a Lok Sabha candidate from
