Amid hectic poll preparations by the rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions in the Pawar clan stronghold of Baramati, MP Supriya Sule on February 24 called upon her cousin, Deputy CM and rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar, to discuss water issues in her constituency.
Ms. Sule, along with another Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction MLA, Rohit Pawar (Sharad’s grand-nephew) attended a meeting chaired by Mr. Pawar on Saturday morning in Pune city.
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Speaking to reporters later, Ms. Sule said, “There is a serious water problem currently prevailing in Daund, Purandar, and Baramati [Assembly constituencies]. There is no water remaining in the Ujani and Nazare dams. Temperatures are rising by the day. So, I have urged the government to take this question seriously.”
Implying there was nothing political to be read about the meeting, Ms. Sule said that as Mr. Ajit Pawar, who split his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP last year, was the State’s Deputy CM and Pune’s Guardian Minister, elected representatives would be meeting him regarding questions pertaining to their constituencies.
“Ajit dada is Maharashtra’s Deputy CM and Pune’s Guardian Minister. Though he may be working in a government with a different ideology than us, we are elected representatives and we have no problem taking up people’s questions. It was for this that we met him,” said Ms. Sule, a three-time MP from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency (in Pune district).
Commenting on the possibility of Sunetra Pawar (Mr. Ajit Pawar’s wife) being pitted against her as a candidate for the Baramati Lok Sabha in the upcoming general election, Ms. Sule merely said, “For 15 years I have been a Member of Parliament and have been among my constituents, listening to their problems. Roaming in my constituency is akin to being with my family. This is a democracy. Anyone can contest against anybody.”
Mr. Rohit Pawar, the MLA from Ahmednagar’s Karjat-Jamkhed constituency said a number of questions pertaining to water and agriculture were discussed with Mr. Ajit Pawar.
“I urged the Deputy CM to start the Kukadi reservoir project in my district Ahmednagar as farmers in my Assembly constituency are dependent on that. Mr. Ajit Pawar has agreed to that and we thank him for that,” said Rohit Pawar.
Meanwhile, a separate meeting between former State Health Minister and MLA Rajesh Tope (a leader of the Sharad Pawar camp) with Mr. Ajit Pawar has sparked a buzz regarding Mr. Tope’s potential defection to Ajit’s NCP faction.
It has long been on the cards that Mr. Tope, an MLA from Ghansawangi in Jalna district, is planning to join the Ajit Pawar faction.
