The battle for Baramati has taken its toll on octogenarian Sharad Pawar. The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief and former Union Minister cancelled his scheduled programmes for Monday after being advised to rest.
The 83-year-old, who has a sore throat, delivered a short public address in a quavering voice on Sunday – the last day of campaigning for Baramati (in Pune district), which goes to polls on Tuesday.
The Baramati contest pits Mr. Pawar’s daughter, incumbent MP, Supriya Sule against Sunetra Pawar, wife of Deputy CM and NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is Sharad Pawar’s nephew. He split the party last year to join the Mahayuti government by aligning with the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Both Ms. Sule and Dr. Amol Kolhe, the NCP (SP)’s candidate for the Shirur seat, on Monday said there was no cause for worry and that Mr. Sharad Pawar would rest awhile before resuming campaigning later this week.
Punishing schedule
With prestige, and their political future, at stake, both Mr. Sharad Pawar and his nephew have maintained punishing schedules, campaigning relentlessly not just in Baramati but across key Lok Sabha constituencies in western Maharashtra that go to the polls today.
Mr. Sharad Pawar has defied age by holding no less than 50 rallies across key constituencies including Baramati in a few days.
According to observers, Mr. Pawar’s appearance during the final day’s rally in Baramati, and the rousing speeches by Supriya Sule, and Shirur incumbent MP Amol Kolhe, lent an emotional charge to the event which could tilt the balance in the NCP patriarch’s favour despite the arithmetic on paper favouring Ajit Pawar.
There were emotional scenes as this is likely his last rally in his bastion. Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew MLA Rohit Pawar broke down, into tears.
Spearheading the attack, Supriya Sule launched a broadside against PM Modi and her estranged cousin, Ajit Pawar.
“Outsiders [the BJP, specifically PM Modi] came to Baramati from Delhi and called us the ‘Naturally Corrupt Party’. I thank the BJP for having taken all corrupt elements from us. Now, they say that the problem within the NCP is because of Sharad Pawar’s love of his daughter,” said Ms. Sule, who is seeking re-election from Baramati for a fourth time.
Ms. Sule, who has normally refrained from targeting Ajit Pawar directly in her speeches, vented her spleen on the final day of campaigning on Sunday evening.
Sule attacks Ajit
“Every day, they say I have done nothing for the last 10 years for Baramati. All these years, he was the Guardian Minister of Pune district. I ask how many taluks in Baramati did they visit. He [Ajit Pawar] and [the BJP’s] Devendra Fadnavis only surveyed the constituency from a helicopter.
I have always respected him as an elder brother. I have always worked under his guidance without questioning his decisions, on fund allocation or anything else,” Ms. Sule said.
Lashing out at PM Modi’s ad hominem attacks against her father, the NCP (SP) leader remarked that as long as Maharashtra’s public acted as Pawar saaheb’s shield, no one could finish Sharad Pawar.
Attacking her rival Sunetra Pawar, Ms. Sule urged the audience to pick the MP “on merit” and “not by proxy,” alluding to Ms. Sunetra’s campaigning being run by Ajit Pawar and expressing the concern that her cousin brother would be directing Sunetra if the latter became an MP.
She chastised Ajit Pawar for creating a rupture within the Pawar family, remarking “I was not so strong earlier, but I have become tough over the last 10 months. If you do not care about family and Maharashtra, then the people will give you a fitting reply. One doesn’t need strength to break relations but to preserve them.”
In 2019, just before the Maharashtra Assembly election, Sharad Pawar’s eye-catching pre-Assembly election speech in Satara had become a watchword for the opposition’s fight against the BJP, and did much to rally public opinion behind the (undivided) NCP in the final results.
Observers feel that his appearance on the last day of campaigning for Baramati despite being rather unwell could result in a “sympathy vote” in Ms. Sule’s favour.
