Most people said they would not like to choose between one Pawar and another. “If Supriya looses we will not feel good”, said a woman running a small tea shop in Malegaon.

But the fight is not really between tai and Vehini. It is already between “sahib”, as Sharad Pawar is universally known and “dada”, as Ajit is called. It is the battle for supremacy in the NCP and for political space it has occupied since Pawar broke away from the Congress in 1998 after Sona Gandhi’s rise. The NCP split last year after Ajit existed with 41 of 53 MLAs to join BJP-led government in the state. The NCP name and symbol (clock) are also with the Ajit group now after the Election Commission ruled in its favour. Though the matter is in the court, Ajit is allowed to use the symbol if he adds the disclaimer the matter is sub-judice. The NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar) has been given the “tootari” or trumpet symbol.

Though Ajit seemingly has control of the organization, popular sympathy remains with Pawar. “It is huge sympathy”, remarked a house wife in Baramati. “How can we inflict pain on Saheb towards the end of his life when he has done so much for us?” A farmer in Mulshi taluka said, “Ajit Pawar should have never left Saheb’s side, and we know he left because of ED. Pawar does not have a son, only a daughter. After all, it was Saheb who gave Ajit Dada the opportunity to do what he has been able to do.”

“Kaam (work)” for the constituency. As he addressed more than thousand Muslims gathering in Baramati to give them “Manzoori” or promissory documents for loans—the first of eight rallies he addressed during the day—talking to Muslim women one found many of them speak of Ajit’s efforts to do “logon ke kaam (people’s work) and easy access. “During Covid, I lost my husband. I have three children. Nobody came to see me. Only Ajit Dada came, to find out what help I needed,” said one person.

Thanks to Pawar uncle and nephew duo, the taluka town pulsates with drive and energy—modern residential buildings, a new bus station with facilities akin to those available at an airport, wide tree-lined avenues, no open drains and well known educational institutions for biotechnology, agriculture and engineering to which people across the state and beyond aspire to go. “Thanks to the education they receive in Baramati, my three children are employed today in Apple, face book, and IBM in the USA,” said a home maker.

A Pawar versus Pawar fight poses a “dharam sankat (dilemma) for many because they are worried that “both sides will somehow get to know how we have voted”. Unlike the party, the Pawar clan—they meet every year at a family get together – is with the senior Pawar. Even Ajit’s older brother Shrinivas recently hit out at him and spoke about “how much we owe Sheb”. Srinivas’s son Yugender said he would support Supriya. (IPA Service)