Why Devendra Fadnavis has set a new narrative in Baramati

The high-profile Baramati Lok Sabha seat in western Maharashtra will see its three-term MP Sule contest against Sunetra, the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The Pawar vs Pawar contest came about after Ajit split from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and joined the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance government.

Both NCP factions admit that Baramati will not be a cakewalk for either candidate. And Fadnavis terming it as a ‘Modi versus Gandhi’ fight has queered the pitch.

“When we keep the battle as Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi, it helps override complexities at the local level. The debate automatically moves beyond Baramati to the national level,” a poll strategist said.

Another reason for the BJP shifting its narrative is that the party would like to negate the sympathy factor in favour of Sharad Pawar, who is fighting one of the most challenging elections in his decades-long political career. At 82, Pawar Senior, who is facing the uphill task of rebuilding his organisation and ensuring a win for his daughter Sule, has taken to the field again.

A win in Baramati is also important for Ajit Pawar, who is looking to reassert his political hold in Maharashtra. With the Election Commission granting the NCP name and symbol to his faction, he may have won the first round but electorally, Ajit Pawar’s leadership remains untested.

With Baramati being a Pawar family turf where people’s outreach and emotional connections are high, neither Sule nor Sunetra is leaving anything to chance. Every political and non-political family across the six segments in Baramati is being aggressively wooed by both sides.

The BJP is also going all out to support the Ajit Pawar faction in Baramati.

On Friday, Fadnavis embarked on his campaign rally from the Indapur Assembly seat in Baramati, accompanied by BJP’s Harshvardhan Patil. In the 2019 Assembly elections, Patil had lost the Indapur seat to the undivided NCP’s Dattatrey Bharne. Patil is known to be an Ajit Pawar rival but has been convinced by Fadnavis to set aside his differences and campaign for him.

Fadnavis has also ensured that Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) chief Mahadev Jankar stayed in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, thereby ensuring that the sizeable Dhangar vote bank in Baramati would help Sunetra. In exchange, the BJP has given Jankar the Parbhani seat.

Meanwhile, in its internal meetings, the BJP has urged its workers to keep the campaign focused on Modi. “Irrespective of candidate and party, we have to ensure our contest reflects Modi for a third term. The fight in every seat, every candidate is only for Modi,” state party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.

The Lok Sabha elections for the 48 seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases from April 19 to May 20. Baramati will vote on May 7.