Ajit Pawar: Regret fielding Sunetra against Supriya Sule, bringing politics into family

PUNE: A little over two months after the Lok Sabha results, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said that fielding his wife Sunetra from Baramati against his cousin Supriya Sule was a mistake and he regretted it. Sule retained her seat with a victory margin of over 1.5 lakh votes over Sunetra.He said, “Politics should be kept away from family ties. I made the mistake of nominating Sunetra against my cousin in Baramati. I should have avoided it. The NCP parliamentary board had already decided [to nominate Sunetra] and it could not be reversed. But now I feel that it should not have happened in the first place.” The deputy chief minister was giving an interview to a news channel. For the first time, the Pawars’ bastion of Baramati witnessed a political contest between two candidates from the Pawar family.Pawar, speaking to a news channel, said he regretted pitting his wife, Sunetra, against cousin Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha election. For the first time, the Pawars’ bastion of Baramati saw a contest between two candidates from the family. Ajit Pawar’s family was isolated with the rest of the clan siding with Sule and her father, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. Ajit Pawar’s brother, Shrinivas, and his family actively campaigned for Sule.Sule said she was busy with the Shiv Swarajya rally of her party and had not seen Ajit Pawar’s statement.We also published the following articles recently