Mumbai: NCP has nominated Sunetra Pawar for the Rajya Sabha bypoll from Maharashtra. Sunetra had lost the high-profile Lok Sabha election from Baramati against sister-in-law Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar of the rival NCP-SP. The decision has caused rumblings within NCP as other leaders, including Chhagan Bhujbal, were keen to contest the bypoll. However, Bhujbal backed out after NCP decided to field Sunetra.
There is talk within NCP of Bhujbal being ‘upset’ over the decision to not nominate him as the candidate. The decision to field Sunetra was taken on Wednesday by senior NCP leaders. While Bhujbal on Thursday claimed the decision was unanimous and that he was not upset, his words betrayed him. A ‘downcast’ Bhujbal told reporters, “I was interested and so was Baba Siddique and Anant Paranjpe but the party decision has to be respected. I’m not an independent that I can do what I want.”
The NCP leader claimed that the decision to nominate Sunetra was based on “certain compulsions”. While Bhujbal did not elaborate further, there is talk that Ajit Pawar is trying to keep Sunetra relevant in public eye so that she could take on Sule in a future battle. When asked whether Ajit was allocating key posts to his family while ignoring leaders like him, Bhujbal said, “Everything does not happen as per one’s wish. There is no point in blaming Ajit as it was a decision taken by all party leaders, even I was part of that decision. We unanimously decided to nominate Sunetra Pawar for the Rajya Sabha bypoll.”
