NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule has said political rapprochement with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is not possible till he is aligned with the BJP and said she will not be a chief minister post aspirant if the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is voted to power. In an exclusive interview with the news agency PTI, four-time Lok Sabha member Sule said people voted very assertively in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and there is clarity in the voters’ minds now.
She feels the opposition MVA, comprising the NCP (SP), Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) will also do much better in the November 20 state assembly polls.
Out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the MVA won 30 seats, and an independent supporting the opposition alliance also emerged victorious.
Last year, Ms Sule’s cousin Ajit Pawar and several other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state, leading to a split in the party founded by her father Sharad Pawar.
In June 2022, Mr Shinde led a rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership, which led to a split in that party.
Ms Sule said, “It is hard to say whether Pawars can reunite with Ajit Pawar politically. As long as he is working for the BJP it will not be easy. Our ideologies still remain a challenge politically.”
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On speculations that she could be the MVA’s chief minister face, she said, ”I am not contesting elections and the NCP (SP) has made it clear that we are not in the race for CM’s post. We have clarity and we will go along with whoever our partners decide .”
Asked if the upcoming assembly polls will settle the fragmented polity in Maharashtra, the parliamentarian said the Lok Sabha election results have settled the confusion.
”There is already clarity in the state. There is no issue as such except that the legal fight continues because of the illegal way parties were broken, the illegal way they were given to people…the fight will continue,” she said.
Ms Sule denied there was any strategy to contest only 10 Lok Sabha seats.
”Our party is about service and not strategy. We don’t strategise…we are focused on serving the nation and doing good policy work ,” she said.
The NCP (SP) is contesting 86 out of 288 assembly seats (as per the seat-sharing arrangement of MVA allies) in the state elections and is confident of doing well, she said.
Ms Sule said there was nothing wrong in the delay in finalising the seat-sharing formula among MVA allies.
“Alliance talks in a vibrant democracy take time, we must be respectful towards allies. We made sure we didn’t bulldoze anyone,” she said.
Ms Sule said she doesn’t see the contest in Baramati assembly seat, Pawars’ family bastion where Ajit Pawar is pitted against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, as anything more than an ideological fight.
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”We are aligned with the Congress and they with the BJP. We are fighting the BJP, so we fight their allies,” she said.
Expressing gratitude to voters for giving her the fourth Lok Sabha term this year, Ms Sule said she hoped the assembly polls will be fair in Baramati and claimed people were being threatened by the ruling dispensation.
“People are brave and I will stand by them,” she maintained.
On Ajit Pawar asking Baramati voters to make him happy by electing him, Ms Sule said for her contesting and winning elections is not for self-happiness.
”This is not happiness, this is service for me. My politics is about serving the nation and doing good and serious policy work,” she asserted.
”If I would ask for votes, it would not be for my happiness, it would be for people’s happiness. I want my every stakeholder to be happy. If they are happy, I will be happy,” she said.
On emotions at play in Baramati during the general elections and now in the assembly polls, Ms Sule said leaders are not allowed to show emotions in public.
”If a leader crumbles, how will the family members survive. Being a leader is a lonely job. We have to be empathetic and compassionate in our behaviour but not crumble emotionally,” she said.
On NCP’s division after she was made the party working president, Ms Sule said Ajit Pawar held a powerful position in decision-making, and she was ready to debate with anyone, including him, on how can she be blamed for the split in the party.
‘I believe in transparency,” she said.
Ms Sule said the MVA will get a clear mandate to provide an honest, stable and progressive government to end unemployment, corruption and inflation.
She also said that both (ruling and opposition) alliances decided not to project a CM face. Whether or not it is needed depends on time-to- time, situation-to-situation, she added.
Ms Sule also said the NCP (SP) was not a regional party.
”We were a national party, we were downgraded and our party was broken illegally and the fight continues in the Supreme Court. What was done to Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray was completely unfair,” she said.Â
