Supriya Sule, the newly-appointed working president of the Nationalist Congress Party, on Sunday dismissed allegations that her appointment was solely due to her relationship to party supremo Sharad Pawar, asking her critics to assess her parliamentary performance before questioning her on “nepotism”.
Maintaining that she was proud to be the daughter of Pratibha and Sharad Pawar, Ms. Sule said that she would never run away from nepotism. “I can’t go away from nepotism because I was born in a family which is a political party… and I’m very proud to be Pratibha and Sharad Pawar’s daughter. Why should I run away from this? I have even said this in Parliament,” the Baramati MP said.
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‘Top performer’
“Why can’t we talk about performance when we talk about nepotism? Why don’t you go for the data? Look at my Parliamentary performance. I am on top of the chart… now there is no nepotism and that’s on merit,” she said, adding that the Parliament was not run by her father, uncle, or mother, but her name was still among the top performers. One can’t selectively use nepotism against her or anybody, she said.
On Saturday, Mr. Pawar had named Ms. Sule and Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister Praful Patel as the new working presidents of the party. The announcement sparked a flurry of reactions and speculations that the NCP chief may have sidelined his nephew Ajit Pawar in order to elevate his daughter’s position in the party, which he co-founded in 1999. There was widespread speculation that Mr. Ajit Pawar may switch his loyalty outside the NCP, reportedly to the BJP.
“If only Sharad Pawar loved his nephew as much as Mamata Banerjee loves hers…” the BJP’s Amit Malviya tweeted.
Ms. Sule also asked which party was free of nepotism. “My priority is to strengthen the party and build a very good and strong organisation… and serve the people of the nation,” the 53-year-old NCP leader said.
