Ajit hints at wife contesting polls from Sule's turf

The 2024 contest for Baramati will be one of the most keenly watched battles. On Friday, without naming anyone, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar made an emotional appeal to his constituents to elect a "first timer" who is though surrounded by "experienced people."

Ajit's speech fuelled speculation that the party will field his wife Sunetra against his cousin, the incumbent Baramati MP, Supriya Sule. The deputy chief minister himself is the sitting MLA from Baramati. The local NCP unit also used the occasion to launch a chariot that will run through the constituency, talking up the social initiatives taken up by Sunetra.

While addressing party workers in Baramati, a day after Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar upheld his faction as the real NCP, Ajit said he would field a candidate who has not contested an election earlier, but that person would have the support of those with ample experience. The people, he added, should vote for his candidate as if he himself were in the fray.