Sule must apologise for fielding Yugendra against Ajit Pawar: NCP

The Nationalist Congress Party on Sunday said NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule should apologise for her party fielding Yugendra Pawar against his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in the Baramati assembly seat.

NCP president Ajit Pawar won from his traditional Baramati constituency, defeating his nephew and NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra by more than one lakh votes. The high-stakes contest was seen as a battle between the 65-year-old politician and his uncle, Sharad Pawar (83).

Talking to reporters, NCP spokesperson Amol Mitkari said NCP (SP) leader Sule must apologise for fielding Yugendra against his uncle, just as Ajit Pawar had expressed his regret for fielding his wife Sunetra against her in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

Ajit Pawar, who parted ways with his uncle last year and was seeking an eighth term from this seat in Pune district, polled 1,81,132 votes while Yugendra polled 80,233.

Mitkari further pointed out the slim margin by which NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar retained the Karjat Jamkhed assembly seat.

In Karjat-Jamkhed, sitting NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar won by 1,243 votes against his BJP's Ram Shinde.

"In the 2019 assembly election, Rohit Pawar won comfortably against Shinde. Unfortunately, Pawar's arrogance was not acceptable to the people, but Shinde struggled against the Baramati Agro company's financial clout," Mitkari said.

He claimed that NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil was so disheartened with the election results on Saturday that he did not attend the ceremony to collect his certificate from officials.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing 230 of the 288 assembly seats. The BJP swept 132 seats, the Shiv Sena won 57, while the NCP got 41 seats.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi, on the other hand, managed to clinch only 46 seats together, with the NCP (SP) bagging 10 seats, Congress 16, and Shiv Sena (UBT) 20 seats.

Mitkari said this should be a period of reflection for senior Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat, Dhiraj Deshmukh, and Yashomti Thakur.

"They have five years to introspect," he said.

Terming Congress leader Nana Patole's victory in the polls as surprising, the NCP leader said the party's state president won by a narrow margin but dreamt of becoming the chief minister.