PUNE: For over 40 years, the concluding election rally for Baramati Lok Sabha and assembly seats has been held at a ground near a canal in Christian Colony in Baramati town. The extended Pawar family has followed a tradition , where they gather for lunch first and then head to the ground where patriarch Sharad Pawar addresses the crowd of supporters.
This time, the tradition stands broken. The veteran politician's nephew and Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar , whose wife Sunetra Pawar is locked in a high-profile electoral battle against Pawar senior's daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule , has already booked the ground, owned by a private trust, to hold a concluding rally for his wife.
Pawar and his daughter are now forced to find an alternative venue for their final election rally on May 5 on their home turf.
Sule said like the party name and symbol, Ajit Pawar had taken away the ground, too, from the veteran. "It is disappointing and we will redefine it in a new way. This tradition of holding a final rally at this ground was started by Sharad Pawar even before Ajit Pawar came into politics," she said.
A senior NCP functionary from Baramati, on the condition of anonymity, said, "There's no question about who will get it (the rally ground), because we are the real NCP, and it has been recognised by the Election Commission as well. The tradition to hold the rally at this ground has been followed for over 40 years by NCP and we will continue it this time too."
The Pawar family has another tradition. Candidates have started their official campaign from a Hanuman temple in Kanheri village of Baramati ever since Pawar first contested an election in 1967.
On Friday, Sule officially kicked off her campaign from Kanheri followed by a public rally with Pawar. Sunetra Pawar will also start her canvassing from the same village on Saturday.
This time, the tradition stands broken. The veteran politician's nephew and Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar , whose wife Sunetra Pawar is locked in a high-profile electoral battle against Pawar senior's daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule , has already booked the ground, owned by a private trust, to hold a concluding rally for his wife.
Pawar and his daughter are now forced to find an alternative venue for their final election rally on May 5 on their home turf.
Sule said like the party name and symbol, Ajit Pawar had taken away the ground, too, from the veteran. "It is disappointing and we will redefine it in a new way. This tradition of holding a final rally at this ground was started by Sharad Pawar even before Ajit Pawar came into politics," she said.
A senior NCP functionary from Baramati, on the condition of anonymity, said, "There's no question about who will get it (the rally ground), because we are the real NCP, and it has been recognised by the Election Commission as well. The tradition to hold the rally at this ground has been followed for over 40 years by NCP and we will continue it this time too."
The Pawar family has another tradition. Candidates have started their official campaign from a Hanuman temple in Kanheri village of Baramati ever since Pawar first contested an election in 1967.
On Friday, Sule officially kicked off her campaign from Kanheri followed by a public rally with Pawar. Sunetra Pawar will also start her canvassing from the same village on Saturday.
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