Congress Withdrew from Baramati Byelection to Allow Uncontested Return of Sunetra Pawar
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 9: The Congress on Thursday withdrew its candidate for the byelection to the Baramati Assembly constituency in Maharashtra paving the way for the unopposed election of the deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar, the widow of the former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar, whose death in a plane crash in January caused the byelection.
The Decision by the Congress to pull out of the contest following requests from the NCP leaders was taken by the party on the last day of withdrawal on Thursday for the polling scheduled to be held on April 23.
Speaking at a press conference in Mumbai, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal announced that the Congress party has decided to withdraw its candidate against Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati by-election even though the Congress party’s fight against the BJP would continue and criticised the NCP for aligning with the BJP.
He said Sunetra Pawar had met Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday and had also discussed with the Congress in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Channitala along with other state Congress leaders to ensure her unopposed victory. Mr Sapkal said the decision to withdraw from the Baramati contest was taken out of sympathy for Mr Ajit Pawar’s untimely death. The Congress Party had nominated the state general secretary Akash More as its candidate to challenge Sunetra Pawar.
Earlier, a delegation of the NCP had approached Mr Sapkal, urging him to reconsider the party’s position. Senior NCP leader Dhananjay Munde personally spoke to Sapkal over the phone in this regard. The NCP (SP) chief and veteran leader Sharad Pawar and his grand-nephew Rohit Pawar had also appealed to the Congress party to step aside from the Baramati contest.
The grand old party earlier stated that they would only withdraw their candidate if an FIR is registered in connection with Ajit Pawar’s death in the plane crash. However, it agreed favourably respond to the appeals though the promised FIR had not yet been filed. Ms Pawar had also recently met the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who reportedly assured all help from the BJP to contest the byelection.
During the press briefing, Mr Sapkal said, “As a message to the people regarding the opposition to BJP, we had decided to contest Baramati. Not just in Baramati, but also in Rahuri, we had said we will fight against BJP. We had been campaigning door-to-door.”
He said “Ajit Pawar was a big leader of Maharashtra. Congress has decided to respond to the emotional appeals about this. He was our ally at one point. Sunetra Pawar had called me on April 5. Even yesterday, she had expressed her desire to me. She called me again today. NCP leaders came and met me today. Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde called me. NCP SP leaders have contacted our senior leaders too. Rohit Pawar met me. He supported Congress’ position on Ajit Pawar and expressed gratitude to the party for its stance on seeking justice for Ajit Pawar. He apologised for the petty and immature statements made by a family member.
“As a part of political culture, responding to the emotional appeal, we have decided to respond positively. Sunetra Pawar met Mallikarjun Kharge. Our opposition to BJP will continue. We condemn that Ajit Pawar’s party is in alliance with the BJP. It is unfortunate for Maharashtra that even an FIR is not yet registered in Ajit Pawar death matter. We are withdrawing our candidate Akash More.”
The Maharashtra Congress chief said “There is no relation between CM’s call and Congress’ decision. In 2029, you will see a Congress candidate in Baramati. We will not participate in this bye-election.”
NCP’s Sunetra Pawar, who is Maharashtra Deputy Chief and wife of late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, is set to contest as the Mahayuti candidate in the Baramati byelection, which was necessitated due to the untimely demise of Ajit Pawar in Baramati in a tragic air crash in January this year.
On Thursday morning, NCP(SP) MLA and Mr Parth’s cousin Rohit Pawar met Mr Sapkal at Sarvoday Ashram in Nana Peth in Mumbai. “I met him at around 8 a.m. The meeting lasted for 45 minutes. I apologised to him for Parth’s comments, and appealed to him to withdraw the party’s candidate in Baramati. He said that Congress’ politics was centred around the common man and that the party was concerned that a leader like Ajit Pawar could not get justice. He said an FIR has not yet been registered in Ajit Pawar air crash matter, and that the matter needed to be probed thoroughly. Congress was keen to get justice for Ajit Pawar, he told me,” Rohit Pawar said. Meanwhile, NCP(SP) MP and Ajit Pawar’s cousin Supriya Sule took to X to make the same appeal to Congress. She confirmed that her father and veteran leader Sharad Pawar had spoken with “senior Congress leaders” on the matter. By noon, a delegation of NCP leaders met Mr Sapkal at Congress’s Mumbai office at Colaba to request the withdrawal of nomination. This was hours after Sunetra Pawar herself called him with the request.
The Maharashtra Congress earlier this week had agreed to withdraw its candidate from Baramati byelection if an FIR was registered in the plane crash killing Mr Ajit Pawar. Ajit Pawar had represented the seat in Pune district eight times, with some of his victories coming with record margins. While the Opposition NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have extended support to allow the bypoll to be held unopposed, the Congress had earlier maintained that it would contest it.
The Congress leader raised concerns over the circumstances surrounding Ajit Pawar’s death and noted that the family has demanded a probe into the matter, and Sunetra Pawar had sought an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He also pointed out that NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar had made repeated efforts to get an FIR registered in Maharashtra, but succeeded only in Karnataka.
