(L-R) Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar
Credit: PTI Photos
Wherever Supriya Sule goes in Baramati, people follow. They ask for selfies, which she obliges. In the Pawars-vs-Pawars battle in Baramati, Supriya of NCP (SP) is facing Sunetra Pawar, the wife of her cousin and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
Tai or sister, as Supriya is referred to, learnt her political lessons from Sharad Pawar. For the last three terms, she had won the Baramati seat in Pune district, the family bastion.
Besides Pawar, she considers former Prime Minister and late socialist leader Chandra Shekhar as an inspiration and follows the path laid down by late Congress leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Yashwantrao Chavan of 80 per cent social cause and 20 per cent politics.
Vahini is contesting elections for the first time and going up against Supriya Sule won't be an easy task. The spot-spoken Sunetra is the founder of the Environmental Forum of India, an NGO founded in 2010, and was a mentor in inculcating the concept of eco-village in India.
She has played a key role in organic farming and the use of bioagents, vermicompost, and green manure. She led the self-help group movement on clean villages in the state. She is also a trustee of the Pawar-clan-controlled Vidya Pratisthan.
The decision to contest the election has left the family divided though they have repeatedly said that there are no fissures in the family. Sunetra is the sister of Padamsinh Patil, a former state minister while her nephew Jagdishsinha Patil is a BJP MLA from Osmanabad.