Supriya Tai or Sunetra Vahini: Baramati faced with a difficult choice

Mumbai: Supriya Tai or Sunetra Vahini - it's not going to be an easy choice for people of Baramati.

In Baramati, Sharad Pawar’s daughter and three-time sitting MP Supriya Sule (54) this time faces Sunetra Pawar (60), the wife of Ajit Pawar, the nephew of the Maratha strongman.

The fight is not just between NCP (SP) and NCP, but ‘Tai’ and ‘Vahini’ or ‘nanad’ and ‘bhabhi’.

The fight is being seen as a battle between Saheb, as Sharad Pawar (83) is known, and Dada, as Ajit Pawar (64) is fondly addressed.

Ajit Pawar’s rebellion against his mentor and uncle and the subsequent outbursts have changed the political dynamics in Baramati.

“We are in a dilemma…it is very difficult to make a choice. Surely, we can say that it is not a happy situation,” a Pawar-family insider said.

"What Baramati is today is because of the Pawar-family and the people. The people here are a kind of extended Pawar family. We have never thought that such a thing would happen. Its victory and loss, both," said a person closely associated with the Pawar-family.

The Pawar-full show is being described as the "mother-of-all-battles".

Because it is not Pawars-vs-others as usuals, this time it is Pawars-vs-Pawars.

The closely-knit Pawar-family has been controlling Baramati in the Pune district of Maharashtra, and has led transformation in agriculture, animal husbandry, industries, education, rural development, environment and social sectors.

This change is referred to as the Baramati Model.

Pawar - who started with the Congress - emerged in the political scene of Baramati just after the formation of Maharashtra on 1 May, 1960. Between 1960-1999, Pawar had been four-time Maharashtra Chief Minister

Pawar founded the NCP on 10 June, 1999 after being expelled by the Congress for raising the issue of foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi, later Congress President and UPA Chairperson. However, after the 1999 elections, when Lok Sabha polls and Vidhan Sabha polls were held together, the Congress-NCP joined hands to form the Democratic front.

Twenty years later things changed, when the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena broke ties with BJP and came to the other side to form Maha Vikas Aghadi.

What happened later were the splits in the Shiv Sena and NCP.

While Ajit Pawar has successfully claimed the real NCP party and the iconic clock symbol, Sharad Pawar’s outfit is now known as NCP (SP) and has got the man-blowing-tutari symbol.

On Saturday, both camps of Shiv Sena announced candidates and it was Supriya Sule vs Sunetra Pawar.

“They (BJP) could not find a candidate…for this they had to break the family….elder brother’s wife is like ‘aai’ (mother)…they (BJP) have done this (in Baramati),” said Supriya Sule, who is a key leader of Maha Vikas Aghadi, and lashed out at the BJP for targeting political opponents. "My politics is not personal but ideological," she said.

Sunetra Pawar said, “This is not about family…this is a national election from where you look at the future.”

“I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, our Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, who is our national President, for giving me the opportunity,” she said, hailing the BJP-led Maha Yuti-NDA.

The six Assembly segments of the Baramati Lok Sabha seats are - Daund, Indapur, Baramati, Bhor, Purandar and Khadakwasla.