One of the most watched constituencies in Maharashtra is Baramati, the Sharad Pawar bastion, nursed over decades and one of the most developed taluks in Maharashtra. It unfailingly voted either the senior Pawar, his estranged nephew Ajit Pawar, or daughter Supriya Sule to the Assembly or the Lok Sabha over the decades.
This is going to be one of the toughest electoral poll battles for Ajit Pawar who is an underdog in Baramati. If he wins, he stands to justify that his constituency which he ran under Sharad Pawar’s benign shadow was at least his. That win would be Pawar Senior’s biggest loss of face.
If he loses, Ajit Pawar stands to lose all, the family, the seat Baramati, and the clout within his own party and the alliance where he is the smallest party among the three. He does not say that splitting the party was ever a mistake. But triggering a fight by having his wife contest against his cousin was a mistake. He now has no option but to fight on.
It is personal
Ajit Pawar, first demurring, talking of another constituency and reverting to Baramati, is making it a personal fight between him and the larger Pawar family and is not keen on anyone else, including allies campaigning for him there. He is locked in a battle with his nephew, Yugendra Pawar, younger brother’s son.
Baramati is not the only constituency where parts of a family are battling for a seat. In Kannad, an independent is fighting his estranged wife. For a seat from Gadchiroli district, a daughter is fighting her father. These are intra-family feuds that have spilled over into the political arena and indicate that in political families, politics holds strong.
Pawar clan is unhappy
This Pawar vs. Pawar contest takes the cake. That Ajit thumbed his nose against uncle and strongman Sharad Pawar has not gone down well with the entire clan. Nor with a section of voters. When launching himself into a divergent trajectory, Ajit’s acerbic but eloquent speech, pointing out why Sharad Pawar should retire has not gone down well with the family.
Though he is fighting the odds in Baramati which has returned him to the Assembly seven times and to the Lok Sabha once, Ajit Pawar has now announced that this time he would win with a margin of at least one lakh votes. It could be to show his pretend-confidence to his constituency or a pure swagger. Unless a miracle works, it could even be one lakh too many.
Ajit Pawar is working to plan. He has tried not to betray his nervousness by visiting and campaigning in far away constituencies where NCP – the ‘real’ party is with him and so is the symbol granted by the Election Commission of India – has put up candidates. Hitherto, what was closest to the Pawar family, Baramati, came last.
Matter of prestige
The Pawars’ practice was to file their nominations, and then canvas support across the state for their party, pay attention to the difficult constituencies, and return to Baramati for one last speech of the entire campaign, and spend the day before polling making crucial phone calls. Ajit may have made trips to Baramati but never Sharad Pawar.
In his 1999 campaign, Sharad Pawar had chosen to avoid P V Narasimha Rao visiting his constituency even once. It did not matter to him that Rao was the Prime Minister. Pawar had ring fenced his seat in such a way that his own persona, his own influence and the loyalty of the voters mattered most.
Ajit too has said he did not want Narendra Modi to campaign for him. As he diplomatically put it, Modi may be wanted elsewhere. In an apparent reference to Yogi Adityanath, Ajit pointed out that “outsiders come and say anything.” That was in the context of the Batenge to katengey slogan which is aimed at polarizing voters. Even the modified – if not alternative – slogan Ek hai toh safe hai is apparently not needed in Baramati.
NCP is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party and keeping them at a safe distance is unusual with the worry that the partner may befoul the political air in his constituency. Normally a token appearance of the ally as a goodwill gesture or a tokenism is accepted norm but Ajit wants to fight the larger family single handedly.
| 
