Ajit Pawar (left) is facing his nephew Yugendra Pawar in Baramati.
Credit: PTI/X@yugendraspeaks
Baramati: Amid the hectic campaign trail in Baramati - ‘is jung me hum do sher’ - reads a banner as two nephews - Rohit Pawar and Yugendra Pawar - hit the streets to take on their uncle Ajit Pawar.
Incidentally all the three are lovingly called Dada by people - Ajit Dada, Rohit Dada and Yugendra Dada.
Baramati in Pune district is witnessing the most keenly-contested election in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly polls.
This is happening just one-year-and-five months after Ajit Pawar rebelled against his own uncle and took control of the 25-year-old NCP and its iconic clock symbol.
Sharad Pawar had to settle for the name NCP (SP) and man-blowing-tutari symbol.
Yugendra Pawar (32) is contesting the polls from Baramati against seven-time MLA Ajit Pawar, the NCP President and Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-led Maha Yuti government.
On the other hand, Rohit Pawar (39), the sitting MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed is taking on BJP’s MLC Prof Ram Shinde, whom he had defeated last time.
Amid the heat and dust of elections, the DH spoke to the two nephews of Ajit Pawar at the Supe village in the outskirts of Baramati on Monday.
“It is not just an electoral fight…what we are seeing here is an ideological battle…someone left the party and later took control of it. At a time when one should hold the hands of Pawar Saheb, they ditched him,” said Yugendra.
“What Yugendra is doing is reiterating the commitment to the cause of people,” adds Rohit, who is also the President of Maharashtra Cricket Association. “We saw the Lok Sabha polls…people supported Pawar Saheb,” he adds.
Yugendra and Rohit, however, are careful enough not to take the name of their uncle - and be guarded in their attacks - and never make it personal.
Yugendra is son of Ajit Pawar’s brother Shriniwas Pawar, Rohit is son of his cousin Rajendra Pawar.
Incidentally, after the defeat of his wife Sunetra Pawar in Lok Sabha polls by his uncle’s daughter Supriya Sule, this is for the first time that Ajit Pawar is facing a challenge as the the nephews criss-cross the hustling-bustling tehsil-town and its neighbouring villages.
“We all know that Ajit Dada has taken the decision (to leave Sharad Pawar) at the instance of ‘adrishya-shakti’,” Yugendra said slamming the BJP. “Saheb lost the party, the symbol, but he resurrected the party and the results of Lok Sabha polls reflect it,” he added, pointing out that Sharad Pawar knows how to start from the scratch.
“Let me tell you, that we both ‘bhaus’ (brothers) will carry forward the legacy of Saheb,” Yugendra said amid thunderous applause.
“The Maha Yuti has lost the game…the confidence of the Eknath Shinde-led BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP is shattered…no surveys are going to work for them,” adds Rohit. “Pawar Saheb is one person who never goes back on his words,” he said, pointing out that Sharad Pawar assured loan waiver and he fulfilled the commitment when he was Agriculture Minister in the Manmohan Singh-headed Congress-led UPA government.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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