Won’t allow Pawar vs Pawar contests in future, says Supriya Sule

NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule has said she will not allow 'Pawar vs Pawar' electoral contests in the future, asserting that members of the Pawar family will not be pitted against one another in elections.

In an interview with a Marathi news channel, Sule made it clear that she herself would not contest against any member of the Pawar family and would also discourage others from doing so. She said while family members may be engaged in different political roles, unity within the family would be maintained when it comes to elections.

The question of a Pawar-versus-Pawar contest arose after recent remarks by Jay Pawar, son of late Ajit Pawar, who said people in his father's constituency Baramati want him to contest elections. However, Jay added that he is currently working as a party worker.

Following his statement, speculation grew that Baramati could witness a Pawar vs Pawar contest in 2029. Responding to this, MLA Rohit Pawar indirectly accused the BJP of attempting to erase the Pawar legacy in Baramati. He also said that the people of Baramati do not want such a contest. Yugendra Pawar, too, has stated that he will not contest against Jay in Baramati.

The constituency has already seen intra-family contests. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Baramati witnessed a contest between Sule and Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, in what was widely described as a 'nanad-bhabhi' (sisters-in-law) contest. Sule emerged victorious.

This was followed by another family contest in the Assembly elections, where Ajit Pawar faced his nephew Yugendra Pawar. Ajit Pawar won that election by a margin of over one lakh votes.

After these contests, Sule did not field a candidate from the Sharad Pawar faction against Sunetra Pawar in the bypoll held after Ajit Pawar’s death, and the family campaigned together. The result of this by-election is expected on 4 May.

The Pawar family has traditionally maintained a separation between family and politics. Even after the split in the NCP, Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar remained connected at a family level. Following Ajit Pawar’s death in a plane crash in January, the sense of unity within the family has reportedly strengthened further and is now being reflected politically, beginning with the Baramati bypoll.

After voting for the by-election concluded, Sharad Pawar hosted a family gathering at Modi Bagh, ostensibly to mark the engagement of Sule’s daughter Revati. It remains unclear whether any political discussions took place during the meeting.

However, Sule’s firm statement against any future Pawar vs Pawar contest has fuelled speculation that the family is keen to preserve its political legacy through unity. She said emphatically that she would never allow such a situation to arise. Becoming emotional, she added that if such circumstances were to emerge, she would take a “major decision” rather than allow members of the family’s younger generation to contest against one another.

Referring to the family’s roots, Sule said she does not support the idea of contesting elections against one’s own relatives. At the same time, she clarified that in her role as working president of NCP (Sharad Pawar), her ideological battle against the BJP’s style of functioning would continue.