Sharad Pawar back in Baramati with Ajit’s potential rival

Mumbai/Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar began a three-day tour of Baramati on Tuesday amid growing clamour to field his grand-nephew Yugendra Pawar as the party’s face in the assembly elections which are four months away.

Pawar, who had over the last several years, began spending more time in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, is once again concentrating on the family’s pocket borough from where his daughter and NCP working president Supriya Sule won her fourth term as MP last week.

The three-day visit assumes significance given that Maharashtra assembly elections are a few months away and Sharad Pawar is preparing ground for it. At present, his nephew and head of the party’s breakaway faction, Ajit Pawar is the seven-term Baramati MLA. When the party was united it was Ajit Pawar who was seen the custodian of Pawar’s legacy in Baramati, and it was he who helmed Supriya Sule’s parliamentary campaign until 2024 when he fielded his wife Sunetra Pawar against her.

On Tuesday, a large number of party workers gathered at Sharad Pawar’s bungalow at Govind baug and said that Yugendra Pawar who is the son of Ajit Pawar’s younger brother Shriniwas should be fielded against Ajit Pawar in the October assembly elections. “We want to change the dada of Baramati,” they said. “Yugendra has worked hard in Lok Sabha for Supriya Sule and a large number of people have accepted his leadership. The party should give the ticket to Yugendra for the Baramati assembly seat,” said one of the workers.

“I have heard you and we will think about your emotions but right now let’s not have any discussion about the candidate,” Sharad Pawar had said in response to his followers’ demand.

Like the rest of the Pawar clan, Yugendra too had canvassed for Supriya Sule in the parliamentary election and is accompanying Pawar senior on this trip to Baramati. Last week, Ajit Pawar, who is known as dada in Baramati, had reportedly stripped Yugendra from his position as chief of Baramati wrestling association.

According to NCP insiders, Sharad Pawar is looking to revive his connections in the constituency which has been his stronghold for the last five decades. Once an arid and underdeveloped area, Pawar transformed Baramati by ensuring water supply for agriculture and setting up industrial units during his tenure as chief minister.

Despite all efforts made by the deputy chief minister, the people of Baramati too chose to side with him in the election just gone by. In five out of the six assembly segments in Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, Sule got a sizeable lead over Sunetra Pawar.

“During his tour, Sharad Pawar is personally meeting people, expressing gratitude to those who helped them in this prestigious battle,” said one of his close aides adding that this visit should be an indication to Ajit Pawar about what lies ahead for him in Baramati.

While it may still be early days to predict whether Yugendra Pawar will indeed be the NCP(SP) candidate in the assembly elections—and there is a view among some party members that Sharad Pawar may not want another bruising family contest—Yugendra has already started meeting people in the constituency and holding ‘janata darbars.’