For Supriya Sule, the Lok Sabha contest this time is personal as she is pitted against her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, in Baramati — the bastion of the family.
The Baramati MP, who has been stationed in the turf for the last few months, is also fighting for her father’s prestige as these are the first big polls after the split in the NCP when Ajit Pawar walked out with his supporters.
Baramati is considered a model town, which has well-known industries, a textile park, and an agriculture training institute. The Pawar family, which has been representing this Lok Sabha and state assembly constituency for the past 60 years, has developed Baramati from a village to a model town. So what next for the high-profile constituency?
Sule said development is a constant process and “we would like to take this process to the next level”. “In the last 60 years, Sharad Pawar has got massive support from people and anyone can tell you that Baramati means Sharad Pawar,” she added.
Before the inclusion of Ajit Pawar and former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan into their fold, BJP leaders — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi — would often term the NCP corrupt. However, these leaders are now with the saffron party and Sule cited Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s latest speech to highlight the irony.
Sitharaman, when asked recently about BJP inducting tainted leaders into the party, said hers was an open party where all were welcome.
Sule said 95 per cent cases filed by central agencies were against opposition leaders as she cited the examples of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren. “Unfortunately, this is not the India where I grew up. It’s sad to see the Income Tax department, CBI and ED get misused. The data also shows that 95 per cent cases are against opposition leaders.”
Talking about the law and order situation in Maharashtra, Sule slammed the state government for not taking up the issue raised by Sr Pawar about missing women. “I raised the issue but didn’t get any answer from this government. They are busy breaking parties and breaking homes using agencies. This government has no time to look at administration,” said Sule.
Sule, who had raised the issue of droughts in Maharashtra, feels the Eknath Shinde government did not plan considering water scarcity in the state.
“I had raised the issue of water scarcity. I must say this government is completely insensitive towards the issue. The dams in Pune and Baramati Lok Sabha constituency were not full but the insensitive government has not bothered to do anything. When our local MLAs asked about it in the assembly, they just got empty assurances. It is the failure of a government that has got 200 MLAs. They have no time to focus on an issue which hurts the farmers of the state,” she said.
On the electoral front, Sule believes that the Pawar Vs Pawar battle is not a repeat telecast of the 1960s. “Sharad Pawar had not contested the election against his brother, though he only campaigned against him. ND Patil, my uncle, has always campaigned against my father. We have no problems with ideologies. But within our party, within our family to date, no one has contested against each other. PWP is very close in ideology to us and we have close relations with them,” said Sule.
She also laughed off the Opposition’s allegations that she has not done anything significant for the Baramati constituency, with development being restricted to Baramati city.
“I get amused when my opponent says that we have not done any work because we were on the same side six months ago and worked together. In a democracy, they can say whatever they want. One can see my performance in Parliament; there is not a single charge of corruption against me. My contacts in my constituency, the work we have done here can be corroborated with data.”
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