LS polls: Bent on contesting from Baramati, Shiv Sena leader Shivtare takes swipe at 'Pawar family'

Pune: Hoping to contest the prestigious Baramati Lok Sabha seat, ruling Shiv Sena leader Vijay Shivtare on Friday slammed the Sharad Pawar clan and asked: "why the people should always keep voting for the Pawar family members", here.

The ex-state minister, Vijay Shivtare, 64, has expressed his determination to contest the Baramati Lok Sabha seat - currently held by Nationalist Congress Party (SP) Working President Supriya Sule for the third consecutive term.

Earlier, her father and NCP-SP founder-President Sharad C. Pawar was elected from here six times, and her cousin and current Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar once (1991).

For 2024, Ajit Pawar is all set to nominate his wife Sunetra A. Pawar, who will try to wrest the seat from Supriya Sule - a major "nanand-bhabhi" political tussle to be witnessed in the Battle for Baramati.

Ex-MLA from Purandar (in Baramati) Shivtare is aspiring to contest as an independent since his party, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's NCP are ruling allies with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the MahaYuti coalition.

For the past nearly 10 days, he has been making a fervent pitch for the Baramati LS seat, even as it became clear that Sunetra A. Pawar is the likely candidate against the Maha Vikas Aghadi joint nominee Supriya Sule.

Proclaiming that he would raise the "voice of the common voters", Vijay Shivtare took a potshot at Ajit Pawar - fondly referred to as 'Dada' (elder brother) - contending that "the people of Baramati are disgusted of Pawar's 'dadagiri' here...".

"First vote for this Pawar, then that Pawar, now someone wants to prop up his wife, tomorrow they will say vote for the Pawar's son or daughter... Democracy is gone for a toss here... For how long should and why should we always keep voting for the Pawar family?" said an exasperated Vijay Shivtare.

Considering his sour mood, late on March 14, Shinde summoned him for an earful at his home, but apparently it fell on deaf ears as Vijay Shivtare became agitatedly "vocal for local" again on Friday (March 15).

Claiming clout in Purandar, Vijay Shivtare said that "if I tell the people here not to vote for Pawars, they will not... Same is the situation in other constituencies like Indapur or Baramati. Nobody wants them and the locals yearn for good options".

He slammed the Pawars for holding sway over Baramati for more than four decades both in the parliament and assembly seats, but little development works have taken place beyond Baramati town.

Vijay Shivtare claimed that barring Baramati assembly segment represented by Ajit Pawar, all other assembly constituencies like Indapur (held by NCP), or Daund and Khadakwasla (BJP), or Bhor and Purandar (Congress), remain deprived of development funds or projects, creating huge resentment among the rural voters.

Rattled by the developments, NCP Thane chief Anand P. Paranjpe, a two-time MP, shot back warning that if Vijay Shivtare insists on brewing trouble in Baramati, "then it could spell doom for the (Shiv Sena) in Thane".

Thane, incidentally, is the home-district of CM Shinde, his son Shrikant Shinde, the sitting MP is aiming for a hat-trick from Kalyan Lok Sabha and is a political rival of Paranjpe.

The BJP has maintained a studied silence, while no major NCP-SP leader has made official comments on the unfolding drama in Baramati.