A day after it was reported that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had 'admitted' that he had made a mistake by fielding his wife Sunetra against his cousin Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha elections, senior NCP leader Praful Patel said on Wednesday that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on this because it was Mr Pawar's family matter.
Ms Sule, who is the daughter of NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar, had defeated Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes. Ajit Pawar, who had split the NCP and joined the government run by the BJP and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena last year, had turned the contest for the family bastion of Baramati into a prestige battle by picking his wife as the candidate.
While his faction of the NCP, which had retained the name and symbol of the party, won one Lok Sabha seat, the group led by his uncle, Sharad Pawar, managed to bag eight.
Speaking on the decision to field Sunetra Pawar against Ms Sule, Mr Pawar had told a Marathi news channel, "I love all my sisters. One shouldn't allow politics to enter homes. I made a mistake in fielding Sunetra against my sister. This shouldn't have happened. But the parliamentary board (of NCP) made a decision. Now I feel it was wrong."
When Praful Patel, who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Ajit Pawar during the rebellion against Sharad Pawar, was asked about the statement on Wednesday, he said, "It is his personal matter, his family's matter. He is a senior leader in the state and the president of our party, the NCP. If he has said something, then I do not think it is appropriate for me to say anything more about it."
To a question on whether he would visit Ms Sule on Raksha Bandhan next week, Mr Pawar had said that while he is on tour, he would try and meet his sisters if they are in one place.
Maharashtra Minister Deepak Kesarkar said on Tuesday, "We should not mix family with politics. As a brother, it is his (Ajit Pawar's) duty to go and celebrate Rakshabandhan. Also, as a political leader, he would be at the forefront of the Mahayuti (the coalition of the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde Faction) and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP) to win elections."
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