Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar files papers as NCP candidate for RS polls; not upset, says Bhujbal

Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.

Senior party leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that though he was keen on contesting the polls, he was not upset with Sunetra Pawar’s nomination, a move which he described as a collective decision.

In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar lost from the Baramati constituency, where her sister-in-law Supriya Sule registered her fourth consecutive win.

“The NCP has decided to field Sunetra Pawar for Rajya Sabha elections. Even I was keen on contesting the elections, but during a meeting on Wednesday evening, party leaders finalised her name,” said state minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal here.

The Rajya Sabha secretariat has notified ten vacancies in the Upper House, including two each in Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra, and one each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tripura.

Asked if key posts were going to one family, Bhujbal said Ajit Pawar did not decide Sunetra Pawar’s nomination.

“The decision to field Sunetra Pawar was taken by the party’s core group. It was not decided him (Ajit Pawar) alone. It was a collective decision,” Bhujbal said.

The vacancies in the Rajya Sabha arose after some of its members, including Piyush Goyal and Udayanraje Bhonsle from Maharashtra, were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Asked whether he was disappointed over not being fielded in the Rajya Sabha polls, Bhujbal said, “Can you see it on my face? I have learnt to respect collective decision-making and have been doing it for the past 57 years. Be it Shiv Sena or NCP, decisions are taken after discussions with people and not as per one person’s will.”

Earlier, Bhujbal was keen on contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Nashik constituency, but NCP's alliance partner Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde fielded its candidate from there. The seat was won by Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT).