One family, opposite camps: Sharad Pawar, grandnephew Parth set to be Rajya Sabha MPs

Mumbai (PTI): Two members of Maharashtra's politically influential Pawar family are set to become Rajya Sabha members from the state at the same time with veteran politician Sharad Pawar and his grandnephew Parth, son of late Ajit Pawar, being in the fray from the rival camps.

Both of them filed their nominations for the March 16 elections to the Upper House of Parliament in Mumbai on Thursday.

While Sharad Pawar, 85, is the chief of the NCP (SP), Parth has been fielded by the ruling NCP.

If elected, it would mark the first instance of the senior Pawar and his grandnephew serving simultaneously in Parliament.

Interestingly, Parth's mother Sunetra Pawar, who is now the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra and also the NCP president, continues to be a member of the Rajya Sabha as she has not tendered her resignation yet, while Sharad Pawar's daughter and NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule is a Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, the family's home turf.

Parth's father Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar, died in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28.

Sharad Pawar, who was the chief minister of Maharashtra four times and also served as the defence minister and agriculture minister at the Centre in the past, has been fielded as a nominee of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The decision to field him, announced by AICC general secretary Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday, ended days of speculation about the MVA candidate as all three allies - Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) - had staked claim to the lone seat the bloc can win given their strength in the assembly.

Parth had earlier tried his electoral luck in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the Maval constituency, which spans across both Pune and Raigad districts, but failed to win.

He was recently in the news after a controversial land deal in Pune's Mundhwa sparked outrage.

The Rs 300-crore deal to sell the 40-acre land parcel to Amadea Enterprises LLP, in which Parth holds 99 per cent stakes, came under the scanner after it emerged that the land belongs to the government, and the firm was exempted from paying the stamp duty. The deal was subsequently cancelled.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Supriya Sule had defeated Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati constituency. Sunetra was later elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.

However, after the death of her husband Ajit Pawar in the plane crash, she was sworn in as deputy CM of the state, and was also elected as the NCP president.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign, Ajit Pawar had sought support for his wife by appealing to voters to vote for a "Pawar" in Baramati, while Sharad Pawar had retaliated, describing daughter Sule as the "original Pawar" and suggesting that Sunetra was an outsider.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, split after Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government of BJP and Shiv Sena in July 2023.

In the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls for seven seats from Maharashtra, the BJP can secure three seats comfortably and contend for a fourth. The Shiv Sena can secure one seat and would have surplus votes thereafter. The NCP can also ensure the election of one member.

The MVA's combined tally translates into the assured election of one candidate. By this arithmetic, the Mahayuti alliance can win six of the seven seats, subject to cross-voting or strategic transfers under the preferential voting system.