Lok Sabha election: Troubles mount for Ajit Pawar as schisms within family, Mahayuti alliance intensify 

Ajit Pawar's family feud and political alliances threaten his Baramati Lok Sabha candidate's chances in Pune.

Even as rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar throws himself in hectic campaigning to wrest the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, schism within his family as well as Mahayuti are threatening to undercut the chances of his candidate.

It is widely expected that Mr. Ajit Pawar will field his wife Sunetra from Baramati against the incumbent MP, Supriya Sule, who is Sharad Pawar’s daughter and Mr. Ajit Pawar’s cousin.

However, in a significant development, Mr. Ajit Pawar’s elder brother, businessman Shrinivas Pawar bitterly censured him for leaving Sharad Pawar’s side and aligning with the BJP, thus indirectly announcing his support for Supriya Sule. The hotly contested Baramati seat, in Pune district, goes to polls in the third phase on May 7.

“I have always stuck with Ajitdada through his highs and lows. But I do not approve of his decision of leaving the side of 83-year-old Sharad Pawar. It has caused me great pain. We all know how indebted we are to Pawar saaheb after all that he has done for us,” said Shrinivas, speaking in Katewadi late Sunday, the ancestral village of the Pawar clan.

Calling his brother “ungrateful” and “worthless” Shrinivas further said it was astonishing that his brother (Ajit) should question what Mr. Sharad Pawar had done for him and the others.

“He could become Deputy CM four times and remain a Minister for 25 years only because of Pawar saaheb. And yet, Ajit disrespectfully says our uncle has no political future now, that he ought to just retire, sit at home, and chant bhajans while adopt a mentoring role,” said Shrinivas Pawar.

He further said it had long been the RSS and the BJP’s ploy to finish off Pawar clan by creating a divide within the family.