Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Blame game in Baramati

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and his wife and party candidate from the Baramati constituency, Sunetra, after casting their votes. Pics/PTI

Please don't say ‘enough of Baramati' yet. Polling is over in the Pawar bastion, but news continues to come in from there. Thursday's break caught our attention. One of the lowest turnouts in Baramati turned out to be Ajit Pawar's worry and a scare for his wife Sunetra, who contested against her husband's cousin Supriya Sule, an incumbent MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter. Ajit might have found a statement that a senior BJP leader had made last month as one of the reasons for voters' apathy.

Reports said that he felt that the unsavoury comment had made all the difference and affected turn-out, though according to him, it wasn't repeated in the later stages of the campaign. The campaign in Baramati actually saw many more caustic comments being made from both sides. So, if Patil were to be blamed, then there were many other partners in the rhyme.

The BJP leader in question is a senior minister Chandrakant Patil, who, in his inimitable style, had appealed to the NDA workers that it was time they together finished the politics of Sharad Pawar. Sensing the trouble the statement had invited from Pawar senior's well-wishers, Ajit had asked Patil to avoid making caustic statements and focus on Pune's BJP candidate instead of Baramati. The DCM was reported to have said at a meeting somewhere in Pune, that to invite leaders to speak at his wife's rallies had become too risky because he didn't know what they would speak to spark yet another controversy. For, Ajit knows it too well. He has himself experienced public wrath and adversity in the wake of his controversial remarks.

A PTI report on Thursday from Pune quoted Ajit Pawar as saying, "He (Patil) should not have made those remarks. (After that statement), I told Chandrakant-dada to look into the BJP's work in Pune, and that my party workers and I would look into the Baramati Lok Sabha seat. He should not have made that statement and I have no idea why he said that. But later, he never spoke a word."

Rival parties spoke innumerable things against each other. Unlike the past, the Pawars were split this time, with the majority of family members on Supriya's side. Ajit depended on his old friends, associates and frenemies from the BJP and Shiv Sena. Yet, he had to be there personally, walking miles and traversing the length and breadth of the constituency. Supriya too did the same. It was a novelty filled with a dilemma for the Baramati voters, whose eardrums were subjected to stories they hadn't heard so far. The story-telling has shifted to neighbouring constituencies in Pune and other districts where polling is scheduled in the fourth phase.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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