Maharashtra: Baramati braces for uncle-nephew clash as NCP-SP fields a mix of youth, veterans for Assembly polls

Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS) The prestigious Baramati Assembly constituency in Pune will witness another uncle-nephew clash as the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) unveiled a list of 45 candidates with a mix of youth, veterans, a few who defected from other parties plus some kith and kin, here on Thursday. 

NCP-SP's Yugendra Shriniwas Pawar will lock horns with his uncle, Deputy CM and Nationalist Congress Party President Ajit Pawar, making it another high-profile family political battle for Baramati.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha, NCP-SP's Supriya Sule wrested Baramati LS seat in a close fight of prestige from her 'bhabhi' Sunetra (Ajit) Pawar - the latter is now a Rajya Sabha Member.

Interestingly, again in six months, the people of Baramati will be in a quandary about whom to vote for – the veteran uncle who is a six-time Deputy CM and two-time party-breaker or his family loyalist rookie nephew – with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) going all-out to dislodge the ruling MahaYuti regime.

The other prominent nominees are -- NCP-SP state President Jayant R. Patil (Islampur), General Secretary Jitendra Awhad (Mumbra-Kalwa), Anil Deshmukh (Katol), Rajesh Tope (Ambad-Ghansawangi), Shamrao P. alias Balasaheb Patil (Karad North), Prajakt Tanpure (Rahuri) and ex-BJP leader Harshavardhan Patil (Indapur).

Shashikant Shinde has been fielded from Koregaon, Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar (Basmath), Gulabrao Devkar (Jalgaon Rural), Ashok Pawar (Shirur), Rajendra Shingne (Sindkhed-Raja), Rani N. Lanke (Parner), the wife of incumbent MLA Nilesh D. Lanke who was elected to LS in 2024, and Rohini Khadse-Khewalkar (Muktainagar), whose father Eknath Khadse was once elected from here and her sister-in-law is the sitting Raver BJP MP Raksha Khadse.

The young brigade includes: Rohit R. Pawar (Karjat-Jamkhed), debutante Rohit R. Patil, the son of sitting MLA Suman R. Patil – the widow of former Deputy CM R. R. Patil, Sandeep Naik (Belapur), Mahebub Shaikh (Ashthi), and PrashantYadav (Chiplun).

There is a party veteran, Prashant Jagtap (Hadapsar), a royal blood Samarjit Ghatge (Kagal), Pradeep Naik (Kinvat), Rakhi Jadhav (Ghatkopar East), Subhash Pawar (Murbad), and Mahesh Kothe (Solapur City North).

The NCP (SP) has named Bhagyashree Atram-Halgekar (for Aheri), who recently rebelled against her father, NCP Minister Dharmarao Baba Atram, while her cousin Ambarish Atram is likely to contest as a BJP candidate, a potential three-cornered family fight coming up in the same constituency.

This is the NCP-SP's first list after the MVA allies comprising Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) have concurred on an 85-85-85 seat-sharing formula (of the total 288 constituencies), with negotiations for 15 contentious seats, and 18 to be allotted to smaller parties.

During the Lok Sabha elections, uncle Ajit Pawar and estranged nephew Yugendra Shriniwas Pawar crossed swords against each other when NCP SP nominee and Pawar senior’s daughter Supriya Sule defeated NCP nominee and Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar.

Ajit Pawar had earlier announced that he was not interested to fight from Baramati but recently, the party's working president Praful Patel, declared that the former will contest from Baramati. Thereafter, Ajit Pawar said he would abide by the party decision.

Yugendra Pawar holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Northeastern University, Boston and he is the Treasurer of Vidya Pratishtan, an educational institute founded by Sharad Pawar.

He was quite active campaigning for his aunt and party nominee Supriya Sule during the general elections. He was preparing for his debut in electoral politics under the guidance of grandfather and NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar.

He had also stepped up his outreach with the voters from Baramati taking up their slew of issues.

However, two days ago, Yugendra Pawar evaded questions about his nomination saying that he was not keen on replacing anyone as he did not want to oppose anyone.

He further stated that the people of Baramati and himself are loyal to Sharad Pawar and there was no question of disassociating him from his grandfather.

In a related development, Aheri assembly constituency in the Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district will witness a fight between father and daughter. NCP minister Dharmaraobaba Atram will take on his daughter and NCP-SP nominee Bhagyashree Atram.

Dharmaraobaba Atram in September had urged the people from Aheri assembly constituency to throw his daughter Bhagyashree and son-in-law Rituraj Halgekar in the nearby Pranhita river for treachery by joining hands with NCP-SP led by Sharad Pawar and contesting against him in the upcoming assembly election.

--IANS

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