Pawar’s grand-nephew Parth banks on clan to clinch Maval

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, April 23

Nobody from Sharad Pawar’s family has ever lost an election and the baggage weighs heavy on Parth, the grand-nephew of the Maratha chieftain who is contesting the Maval Lok Sabha constituency which lies between Mumbai and Pune.

The hurriedly planned entry of Parth, 29, son of Pawar’s nephew Ajit into electoral politics forced the veteran leader to withdraw his candidature from the Madha Lok Sabha seat since “it wouldn’t have look nice if so many members of a family contested the Lok Sabha elections”. 

The buzz is that Ajit Pawar aggressively pushed for his son’s entry into the fray for the parliamentary polls, apprehending that another grand-nephew of the NCP strongman would stake claim to an Assembly seat  later this year.

On the field, it is clear that Parth has been thrust too soon in the public glare. The commerce graduate from a Mumbai college with a two-year stint in London hit the campaign trail six weeks ago and was caught on camera struggling to read from a prepared speech. Vicious online attacks from the trolls did not help the young man who later admitted to reporters that public speaking was not his forte. “My work rather than my speeches will speak for me,” he maintained.

 The Pawars clearly expect a lot from Parth, battling in a constituency that straddles both urban and rural areas. “I will turn Maval into another Baramati,” he tells crowds in the rural parts. In the fast urbanising areas of this constituency, Parth speaks of turning the area into another Pimpri-Chinchwad — the fast-growing township on the outskirts of Pune.

Parth and the extended Pawar clan have turned this election into a prestige issue. His father Ajit has been camping in Maval for weeks. With polling in their pocketborough of western Maharashtra coming to an end on Tuesday, Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule are mobilising the NCP machinery to take on Maval’s sitting MP Shrirang Bharne of the Shiv Sena.

Local alliances have been firmed up with the Peasants and Workers Party, which controls Assembly segments in Raigad district, extending support to Parth. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray will soon hold one of his video-presentations demolishing the claims made by PM Narendra Modi.

Parth himself has been cordial with local BJP leaders, even appearing at public events with them, thereby causing doubts in the Shiv Sena camp. With the Pawars bringing out its heavy artillery in support of Parth, Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya will kick off public meetings in support of the Sena’s sitting MP.

Meanwhile, the BJP has filed a complaint with the EC alleging that NCP chief Sharad Pawar stayed put in Baramati after the poll campaign ended on Sunday evening despite being a registered voter from Mumbai. Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriya Sule is pitted against the BJP’s Kanchan Kul.

MATTER OF PRESTIGE

• Local alliances firmed up with the Peasants and Workers Party, which controls Assembly segments in Raigad district
• Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray to hold one of his video-presentations demolishing the PM Modi’s claims
• Parth has been cordial with local BJP leaders, appearing at public events with them, causing doubts in the Sena camp