Maharashtra Assembly polls: Family’s ‘pawar’ struggle sets stage for epic showdown in Baramati

Yugendra Pawar and Ajit Pawar

In the Baramati Assembly constituency, all eyes are on a much-anticipated contested between Nationalist Congress Party (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

Many see the contest as the mother of all battles in the state polls, Ajit Pawar is taking on his nephew, Yugendra, in Baramati. Earlier, Ajit had tried taking on Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule by fielding his wife in the Lok Sabha polls in Baramati, only to be humbled by a resounding loss.

The bastion of the Pawar family went through turmoil when Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle, Sharad Pawar, to split NCP in July 2023. Baramati witnessed a split in supporters of the Pawar family, unheard of until last year. The conflict within the dominant Pawar family reached its highest level when Ajit had tried taking on Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule by fielding his wife in the Lok Sabha polls in Baramati, only to be humbled by a resounding loss.

The Baramati constituency is located in the Pune district, which has 8647172 registered voters, including 4491068 male voters, 4155330 female voters, and 774 third gender voters. In 2019, Ajit Anantrao Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (then undivided) won the seat by defeating Gopichand Kundlik Padalkar of the BJP with a margin of 165265 votes.

If parliamentary election in Baramati were a battle to see who will take control of the NCP, this time the stakes are higher for Ajit, as losing from here could push him towards political oblivion. Ajit Pawar is already shaken by his wife Lok Sabha loss.

Yugendra, 33, is the son of Ajit’s younger brother Shrinivas aka Bapu. The overseas-educated Yugendra is the CEO of Sharayu Agro. In a recent interview to India Today, the young leader said his polite and humble behaviour (Ajit ‘Dada’ has a reputation for being gruff) is a plus point in this electoral battle. The biggest asset in the contest, he says, is the presence of Sharad Pawar on his side. For, as Yugendra claims, the people of Baramati will always stand by ‘Pawar saheb’.

The issue of unemployment is dominating the poll discourse in the high-stakes constituency. Yugendra, in his interview mentioned:" Unemployment is a pressing issue. We will have to create an environment that catalyses the shift of new industries to Baramati. This will provide jobs to the youth. The Hinjewadi IT Park (in Pune) was set up by Pawar saheb. We want to set up an IT park in Baramati on the lines of Hinjewadi. Our Vidya Pratishthan is launching the first AI college in India—the Centre for Excellence in AI. In Baramati, we have many software developers, computer engineers and computer scientists. We will create an ecosystem for them in the form of an IT park."