BJP chief Amit Shah Friday said his party would win Baramati Lok Sabha seat, a pocket borough of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, with a "huge margin" and stressed there was no "friendly fight" between the two parties.
Pawar's daughter and sitting Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule is pitted against the BJP's Kanchan Rahul Kul.
Addressing a poll rally in Baramati, Shah said, "There was no plan to have my rally in Baramati as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is doing a great job and that is why the party had reduced (number of) my rallies in Maharashtra. However, there was a rumour doing the rounds that there is a friendly fight between BJP and Pawar."
"I have come here to clarify that BJP is going to win Baramati seat with a huge margin. There cannot be a friendly fight here because the BJP is pulling out all the stops to win the seat," he added.
Challenging Pawar in his own bastion, Shah asked the people to "hit at the root".
Pawar was MP from Baramati in 1984, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004, while Sule won in 2009 and 2014.
Kul, wife of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha MLA from Daund Rahul Kul, is contesting on the BJP's lotus symbol unlike in 2014 when state minister Mahadev Jankar fought on his RSP symbol with support from the BJP.
"Last time, Mahadev Jankar fell short by only a few thousand votes. But this time, we have not repeated that mistake and have fielded a candidate on the (BJP) party symbol," Shah said.
Sule had won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls beating Jankar by 69,000 votes, down from her 3.36 lakh victory margin in 2009 against the BJP's Kanta Nalawade.
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