November may see a repeat of April 2024—where two close relatives of the powerful Pawar family may battle it out against each other at the ballot box in Baramati. During the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, Baramati became the most-watched contest as senior Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule defeated her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar by a resounding margin. When Sunetra got elected to the Rajya Sabha in June, she became the fifth member of the influential Pawar family to hold public office.
The Pawar clan is deeply entrenched in politics and public life with Pawar having personally groomed several members of the family, even merely by example. The family currently has three members in Parliament and two in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, spanning three generations.
His older brother’s son Ajit, who Pawar groomed for a role in politics, split from the parent party in 2023 throwing the two factions into a bitter legal battle over the party name and symbol. While Ajit retained the original party name and symbol, for now, Pawar’s party has had to reb-brand his party as the NCP-SP with a ‘man blowing the trumpet’ as its electoral symbol.
Ajit made his foray into public life with cooperatives in Baramati and Pune and has subsequently been elected to the Maharashtra Assembly seven times from Baramati. He rose to the position of Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister with key ministries such as finance and home. With a reputation of being a taskmaster, he’s known for his administrative and political acumen.
Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006 and has been representing her hometown Baramati in the Lok Sabha since 2009. In 2019, Rohit Pawar, who is the senior Pawar’s brother’s grandson, contested and won the elections to the legislative assembly from Karjat. The same year, Ajit’s older son Parth unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections.
The Lok Sabha elections in 2024 saw Ajit’s wife, Sunetra emerge as yet another member of the family to enter electoral politics although numerous members of the family have been involved in political work and social causes in Baramati and Pune. Pawar’s brothers’ families work closely with the Agriculture Development Trust and other NGOs and forums.
Ajit may face his own brother Shrinivas Pawar’s son, Yugendra from the Baramati in this election, making it a face-off between two generations.
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