Election fever has reached its peak in Baramati in the last phase of the campaign for the Maharashtra assembly polls with the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar leaving no stone unturned.
Five months after a couple of Pawars jousted in an electoral battle in Baramati, two other Pawars will take on each other at the hustings on November 20, 2024.
While the deputy CM led a massive nomination rally and waved to the crowds from an open vehicle, the process for Yugendra Pawar was low-key, with just NCP-SP supremo Sharad Pawar and Baramati MP Supriya Sule for company apart from a few supporters.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday said he was satisfied with the development work he had carried out as a legislator, adding that people of Baramati for once must get an MLA other than him so that they could make comparisons.
The senior Pawar, however, said that the entire family campaigns during elections.
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed concerns about discriminatory fund allocation and reports of a rift with Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, dismissing both as unfounded.
The respect for the four-time former chief minister, often referred to as Saheb, in his stronghold of western Maharashtra is palpable in much of the region. But his estranged nephew also appears to enjoy a stature of his own in Baramati, a constituency represented by the senior Pawar for six terms before he passed the baton to Ajit Pawar in 1991.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has said he did not request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a campaign rally in his Baramati constituency because the fight there is within the family.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar says an inquiry has been initiated into the alleged illegal sale of government land to his son's company in Pune. The sale of 40 acres of land is under scrutiny, and the Chief Minister has stated that action is being taken as per law.
A series of decisions were taken under the Public Health Department, including an approval to increase honoraria for field-level workers engaged under the Ayushman BharatPradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday declared the candidature of Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, from Baramati Lok Sabha seat, pitting her against sister-in-law and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule from the home turf of Pawars.
Ajit Pawar criticised Patil, a senior BJP leader, for his remarks two days after polling in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Pune district concluded.
Ajit Pawar also said he was "not interested" in contesting elections anymore.
Though the contest is tough in Baramati, Sule has an edge over her rival as the locals may not break the pattern that she is meant for the Lok Sabha and Ajit Pawar for the state assembly, the political analyst felt.
A senior official of a nationalised bank allegedly committed suicide in Baramati, Pune district, Maharashtra, citing work pressure in a note.
Apart from renominating 26 sitting MLAs, including ministers who sided with Ajit Pawar when he joined the ruling camp, the NCP has also fielded sitting legislators Sulbha Khodke (Amravati) and Hiraman Khoskar (Igatpuri) who switched over from the Congress recently.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar has invited Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar to share a meal at his residence in Baramati during their visit to his hometown on March 2.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
The campaign vehicle carried a banner with photographs of Sunetra Pawar and Ajit Pawar with the symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as an NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.
The IMD issued a "Nowcast" warning, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph at isolated places in Mumbai in the next three to four hours.
'It is everyone's desire and demand that Pawar saheb remains the NCP chief'
Pawar was welcomed by office-bearers of the party amid slogans like "Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Pawar Saheb jaisa ho". The party workers in Baramati also thanked him for deciding to remain as NCP chief.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Heavy rains lashed several parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, on Monday, resulting in one death and the rescue of 48 people from inundated areas. The state received widespread rainfall, with Pune, Satara, Solapur, Raigad, and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) experiencing significant precipitation. Mumbai recorded 135.4 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, leading to waterlogging and power outages in some areas. The India Meteorological Department has predicted more rain in Mumbai over the next 24 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds.
Pawar recalled that he was a member of a delegation sent by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to the UN under the leadership of BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In the past 10 years, over 500 PSB officers have died by suicide. When targets are overwhelming, senior management and customers are both impatient, and there is constant fear, not every banker has the resilience to survive and thrive, warns Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Monday admitted to 'mistakes' in distributing financial assistance to all women applicants of the Ladki Bahin scheme launched last year, which he said would be rectified through scrutiny to ensure only genuine beneficiaries receive the aid.
He also said the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the BJP will jointly contest the upcoming elections to the Mumbai civic body.
Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, which is in an alliance with pro-Hindutva BJP and the Shiv Sena, noted Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar) -- all secular politicians -- aligned with the BJP for the sake of development of their respective states.
'You've got to understand it is not easy to die by suicide.' 'People commit suicide only when they lose everything and find no other way to live.'
Led by Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar MP Supriya Sule, Group 7 will engage with key countries in Africa -- Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia -- and Qatar to present India's position on Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
But the atmosphere is now conducive for the Mahayuti to continue in power in Maharashtra thanks to the government's people-centric schemes, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is giving promises that it cannot execute, he said.
Tension prevailed outside a polling booth in Baramati town in Maharashtra's Pune district after Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Yugendra Pawar's mother alleged intimidation and malpractices by workers of the rival Nationalist Congress Party led by sitting MLA Ajit Pawar.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat were among the early voters to exercise their franchise as polling was underway on Wednesday for the state assembly elections.
A poll flying squad conducted a search at an automobiles showroom belonging to NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar's father in Baramati town ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections. The 'Sharayu Motors' outlet was searched late Monday night but nothing suspicious was found, officials said. Yugendra Pawar, candidate of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), is taking on his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP in a high-profile contest from Baramati seat in Pune district in the state assembly polls scheduled on Wednesday.
'The reason I am not anxious about the opponent facing me in the front (Ajit Pawar) is because of who is standing behind me like a rock (Sharad Pawar).'
Defying predictions of his political eclipse, Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar has not only consolidated his position in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti, but also fortified his place in Maharashtra politics by becoming deputy chief minister for the sixth time.
NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule has criticized the Maharashtra government's decision to make Hindi a mandatory third language in schools, stating that it will not tolerate any undermining of the Marathi language. Sule also criticized the state's implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, expressing concerns about its potential impact on students and teachers. She also questioned the appointment of a retired bureaucrat as the chief economic advisor to the chief minister and criticized the state's performance in areas like fiscal deficit management and the Jal Jeevan Mission.
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