Pune, March 16 NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said on Monday that her party will not field a candidate against Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Sunetra Pawar in the upcoming Baramati assembly bypoll.
The Election Commission announced on Sunday that bypolls to Baramati in Pune and Rahuri in Ahilyanagar, necessitated by the deaths of then deputy CM Ajit Pawar and BJP legislator Shivaji Kardile, respectively, will be held on April 23.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sunetra Pawar is likely to contest the byelection from Baramati.
"I have already clarified that NCP (SP) will not contest the Baramati bypoll. We will not field our candidate against Sunetra Vahini (sister-in-law). As far as the Rahuri seat is concerned, the (Opposition) Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners will deliberate on the seat and a decision will be taken in the next couple of days," Sule told reporters in Delhi.
On Sunday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that all efforts would be made to ensure that the bypolls to the Baramati and Rahuri assembly seats are held unopposed through consensus, but asserted that the BJP was ready if it came down to a contest.
Notably, in the 2024 general elections, Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, retained the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency by defeating her cousin Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar in the latter's maiden election.
Sunetra Pawar was later elected as a Rajya Sabha member. Her husband Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash near the Baramati airstrip in Pune district on January 28 this year, following which she was appointed as the deputy CM and president of the NCP.
On the investigation into Ajit Pawar's plane crash, Sule said they have been seeking a transparent probe into it.
Speaking about the LPG situation amid the West Asia conflict, Sule said the Centre should convene an all-party meeting and take everyone into confidence.
"The businesses, including the hotel industry, have been facing difficulties due to geopolitical volatility," she noted.
The Baramati MP also sought a discussion in Parliament over the issue.
"I am wondering why the state and the Centre are not accepting that there is an LPG crisis. Why are there attempts to keep it under the carpet? A big action plan should be carved out to tackle the crisis," she added.