Sharad Pawar favoured daughter in LS Polls, grandnephew made to 'lose', says Maharashtra minister

Mumbai: NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule was fielded from the “safe” Baramati Lok Sabha seat, while his grandnephew Parth Pawar was sent to Maval constituency to “lose”, Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil said, launching an attack on the former Union minister.

Patil made the remarks on Saturday as he accused Pawar of encouraging dynastic politics. Parth — son of the NCP president’s nephew and former Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar — made his electoral debut from Maval seat in the Lok Sabha polls and got trounced by Shiv Sena sitting MP Shrirang Barne by over 2.15 lakh votes.

“Should not Parth have contested from Baramati? But he was made to lose the election from Maval. Supriya was fielded from a safe seat,” Revenue Minister Patil said addressing BJP workers in Satara’s Mahabaleshwar. Patil also said Rohit Pawar, another grandnephew of the NCP chief, should contest the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls from Baramati segment. The Assembly polls are due in September-October.

“There you will field Ajit Pawar and will send Rohit somewhere to lose the election,” Patil said, without naming Sharad Pawar.

Sule, who won from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 and 2014 polls, retained the seat in 2019 defeating BJP’s Kanchan Kul by a margin 1,55,774 votes.

Replying to Patil, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Mailk said, “Patil himself is being led by a dynast, (CM) Devendra Fadnavis, under whose leadership they are playing politics in Maharashtra now.

“Fadnavis’ father was also a legislator. He (Patil) should explain to the people first about the BJP leader (Fadnavis) who is into dynastic politics.”