Pune, April 6 NCP leader Parth Pawar said on Monday that he would not speak to anyone regarding the unopposed Baramati assembly by-election, which his mother and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar are contesting, and asserted that the Congress, which has fielded a candidate, will "suffer".
The ruling Mahayuti had sought unopposed elections as a mark of respect for Ajit Pawar, whose death in a plane crash on January 28 necessitated the by-election. While the NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, did not field candidates, the Congress chose to contest by announcing the name of Akash More.
"I have not spoken to anyone (in the Congress). They should understand. Everyone (in the Congress) knows what is happening, so let them decide, but they will soon come to know what kind of suffering they will face in the state. Despite knowing the situation and people's love towards Ajitdada, they are doing this (fielding their candidate)," Parth Pawar said.
"We are not going to make any phone calls to anyone. Whatever is written in destiny, it will happen. But I am sad that the Congress is facing a setback in Maharashtra," he told a Marathi news channel after Sunetra Pawar filed her nomination papers for the April 23 by-election.
Meanwhile, NCP leader and Raigad Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare said that the party was trying to contact Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
"Praful Patel and I are trying to ensure that the election is unopposed. We will urge Khargeji and make him understand the importance of Ajitdada in the state and the circumstances in which this election is taking place," said Tatkare, adding that the party would also try to speak to Congress' Maharashtra unit chief Harshwardhan Sapkal.
Speaking to reporters, former Union minister Patel said that it has been a tradition in the state that whenever any legislator dies in such a manner, the subsequent by-election largely takes place unopposed.
"We will appeal to the Congress to help this by-election be held unopposed, and they are already trying to speak to Khargeji," Patel added.
The last date for withdrawal of nominations is April 9, while the counting of votes will take place on May 4.