Ending days of suspense, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction on June 13 announced Sunetra Pawar their candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll which will be held on June 25.
Ms. Pawar’s election to the Upper House is likely to take place unopposed as the ruling ‘Mahayuti’ coalition – comprising of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Pawar’s NCP — has strength of more than 180 MLAs (BJP 103, NCP 40 Shiv sena 38) as compared to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which has only 69 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.
The Rajya Sabha seat had become vacant after Mr. Patel’s resignation in February this year. Ms. Pawar field her nomination in the Vidhan
Sunetra Pawar’s maiden entry into Parliament is being dubbed a ‘backdoor’ one by observers after she lost spectacularly (by a margin of 1.58 lakh votes) to her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, daughter of the NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar in the hotly contested Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. Ms. Sule had won a fourth consecutive term to retain the Pawar citadel of Baramati.
The loss of Baramati has been a body blow to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s prestige, given that his son, Parth Pawar had lost the 2019 general election from Maval Lok Sabha seat by a massive margin of more than 3 lakh votes to the Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne.
In that context, Ms. Sunetra Pawar’s entry into Parliament is seen not just as a step towards her political rehabilitation but also as a means of strengthening the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction against the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) in Baramati ahead of the crucial Maharashtra Assembly election later this year.
Incidentally, Parth Pawar had been eagerly gunning for a Rajya Sabha nomination, as was senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal among others.
Quashing all speculation of him being ‘upset’ over not being considered for the Rajya Sabha seat by his party, Mr. Bhujbal clarified: “Yesterday [June 12], the NCP’s core committee including working president Praful Patel and State chief Sunil Tatkare and other Ministers met to discussion on the candidature. After discussions, we unanimously took the name of Sunetra Pawar. While I was an aspirant for the seat along with Anand Paranjpe, Baba Siddique and other leaders, I am not all upset with Ms. Pawar’s candidature.”
Mr. Bhujbal, who has been at odds with his party leadership in the recent past with his stance over a number of issues, denied that the NCP was being used as “a private property” by Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel.
“Do you see disappointment on my face? All 13 aspirants for this seat cannot go to the Rajya Sabha. Everyone has to follow the party’s decision. If every person in the party wishes to run it according to his own will, then how will the party function? So, this [to send Sunetra Pawar to the Upper House] is not Ajit Pawar’s decision but that of the party,” he said.
