Amid speculations that NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader and Baramati SP Supriya Sule would be facing her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, a video of the two meeting at a temple in the region and hugging each other has emerged. Sunetra Pawar is the wife of Supriya Sule’s cousin and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The video showed both the women smiling and shaking hands before sharing a hug at the Kamleshwar temple in Baramati’s Jalochi village.
In a statement later, Sunetra Pawar said that she happened to meet “Supriya tai (elder sister in Marathi)” at the temple after offering prayers there, news agency PTI reported.
“We both exchanged greetings on the occasion of Maha Shivratri and Women’s Day,” Sunetra Pawar added in the statement.
Speculation has been rife since last month that Sunetra Pawar could be fielded from Baramati by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the Lok Sabha elections against Sule, who is the daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar.
The buzz began after Ajit Pawar hinted at fielding his wife against his cousin. Though he didn’t reveal the candidate’s name, he made an emotional appeal to Baramati voters to elect a “first timer” who would work for the “welfare of your future generations”.
The speculation intensified after a vehicle with posters of the Pawar couple was seen moving around in Baramati.
Supriya Sule, however, has quashed any “family fight”, saying anyone can “contest elections in a democracy”.
“What does it have to do with family? Why are you dragging my family into politics? I request you not to drag my family into this. My family is very big and has nothing to do with politics. It will be a battle on ideological lines. They have not made any ideological clarity. Why bring bhaabhi (sister-in-law) into this? What does she have to do with all of this?” the Lok Sabha Baramati MP said.
Maharashtra’s Baramati seat is considered the bastion of Sharad Pawar, and Supriya Sule has represented the constituency three successive times since 2009. Her father won the Lok Sabha elections from the seat in 1984, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. He also won the Maharashtra Assembly elections from the constituency several times.
(Inputs from Vasant More)