No dispute in NCP over Sunetra Pawar Rajya Sabha nomination: Praful Patel

MUMBAI: NCP president and deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra filed her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha seat in the presence of NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal. No senior MahaYuti leader of the Shiv Sena and BJP was present. Praful Patel played down the absence of leaders from allied parties during the nomination process saying since it was a by-election, they may have chosen not to be present.“We did not invite them, but we did inform them about the candidature of Sunetra Pawar,’’ Patel said.
According to Patel, the decision to field Sunetra was taken at a core group meeting on Wednesday attended by Ajit Pawar, Tatkare and Bhujbal. “There was no dispute over the nomination of Sunetra, it was a consensus choice, and it was a foregone conclusion that she would be elected unopposed,’ he said.
However, a section of NCP MLAs expressed dissatisfaction over Sunetra’s selection and the sidelining of contenders like Chhagan Bhujbal. One of them said NCP should have looked for a candidate other than a Pawar family member. “Nobody objected to Sunetra Pawar’s candidature from Baramati during the Lok Sabha election. All party workers from Baramati worked for her wholeheartedly. However, after her defeat, we felt Ajit Pawar should have picked a senior leader to send a positive signal to the functionaries and workers,” said an NCP MLA. A commerce graduate, Sunetra and Ajit Pawar together have declared property worth Rs 123 crore.
(With inputs from Ranjan Dasgupta and Anurag Bende)